Water, earth, fire, air, blood, chrome
by Redshirt51
Summary: What if the cylons found earth first? What if they found a primitive species of humans who could bend the elements to there will? What hope would there be for the colonial fleet?
1. Teaser trailer

Previously, on Battlestar Galactica and Avatar

_-"This is the commander. moments ago, this ship received word that a cylon attack against our home worlds is underway. How, why, doesn't matter now, what does matter is that as of this moment, we are at war!"_

_-"long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the fire nation attacked."_

_-"The facts are that our colonies have been destroyed, our cities have been Nuked, and our fleet is gone to. We're all asking the same thing, what do we do now? Do we run? Do we hide?"_

_-"I think it was meant to be this way. If you had stayed you would have been killed along with all the other air benders."_

_-"we are a long way from home! Limited supplies, limited fuel, no allies, no hope! It won't be an easy journey, but I promise you one thing! Earth will become our new home! We shall find it! So say we all!"_

_-"Aang is the avatar. He's this world's only chance. Now your destinies are intertwined with his."_

_-"if your a cylon, I want to know." "If I'm a cylon your really screwed."_

_-"of corse he's from the fire nation, you can tell from the evil look in his eye."_

_-" everyone I know is fighting to get back what they had. I'm fighting because I don't know how to do anything else."_

_-"no, you became the traitor when you stopped protecting innocent people." _

_-"one of us will have to face the moment were we have to commit that horrible sin. If we hesitate, if we let our concise get in the way, there will be more kids in those body bags!"_

_-"I offer you this wisdom Aang. You must be decisive"_

_-"we're not a civilization anymore. We are a gang, and we're on the run. And we have to fight to survive. We have to break rules, we have to bend laws. We have to improvise!"_

_-"I know the world needs him, but doesn't he know how much we need him to! How could he just leave us behind!"_

_-"despite all we've lost. We keep trying, and we will get through this, all of us, together."_

_-"sometimes life is like this dark tunnel. You may not see the light at the end of the tunnel, but if you just keep moving, you will come to a better place."_

_-"all of this has happened before, and it will happen again, and again, and again, and again."_

_-"if you don't defeat my father before the comet comes, there won't be a world to save anymore."_

_-"we had our foot on the throat of humanity but we failed to step down hard enough!"_

_-"you're weak! Just like you fellow air nomads! They did not deserve to exist in this world, in my world!"_

_-"I've been to earth. I know were it is. And I'm going to take us there."_

_-"no, I'm not going to end it like this."_

_-"You're going the wrong way!"_

_-"this war has left the world scared and divided, but with the avatars help, we can put it on the right path."_

_-"I'm giving you a ship. Now go, find earth, and lead us home."_

Kara Thrace throttled her markII viper towards the unknown contact on her dradis scanner. In just a few minutes "Starbuck" and her wing man "hotdog" could see the contact. It was a cylon heavy raider. The cylon ship was flying erratically and there was smoke and debris flying off it. It looked like it had been through one hell of a fight.

"Come on. Talk to me, shoot me, just do something." She heard Hotdog respond over the com system.

"Starbuck, Hotdog. What did you say? I didn't catch your last message."

Starbuck just ignored him. She was too busy focusing on the raider waiting for its pilot to respond. Suddenly the static on her radio turned into a very familiar voice.

"Kara, it's me. I knew you would be out here… searching. I'm alone, I'm unarmed." Starbuck almost jumped out of her seat at the sound of the voice. "Leoben?" the voice continued.

"Starbuck, listen me, I've come to offer a truce between human and Cylon. Something amazing has happened. But we don't have much time, there's too much to explain. You see, the Cylons have found the 13th tribe. We found earth."

39,676 survivors

Looking for a home

Called earth


	2. Chapter 1 something has changed

**Sorry people, forgot to post an authors note in the intro. My bad. Anyway as you can see this is my crossover story between ALA and BSG. Only reason I'm doing this is because theses are two of my favorite shows (other than all the Star Trek shows). This crossover takes place somewhere around the episode "faith" for BSG, and at the end of ALA. Major spoiler alert for BSG fourth season. I'll try to post these chapters once a week from now on (but no promises). **

**Disclaimer, I do not own Battlestar Galactica reimagined or avatar the last Airbender. They are owned by there respective creators.**

Chapter 1: something has changed

one week earlier

Avatar Aangs first thought was of lying in a confined space. He immediately sat up strait to look around. He was lying in a large metal cage inside a room with a sleek design and square lights all over the walls. To the right of his cage were three other similar cages. Standing outside guarding the one entrance to the room were what he could only describe as large metal men with a single red light for an eye rotating back an forth. They weren't solders in uniform. They were completely metal! Aang struggled with the pain in his head to remember how he got to this strange place. The past few hours were chaotic and blurry. He's earliest clear memory was of kissing Katara on the balcony in Ba Sing Sa the day after his victory over the fire lord and the end of the 100 year war. Suddenly he could remember seeing a swarm of small silver metal air ships flying in the sky shooting fireball like projectiles at the city. The next thing he knew he was riding Apa with Katara, Sokka, and Toph. In the distance he could see the earth nation capital burning on the horizon. There was more that happened but it was all a big blur that he couldn't recover. As his focus returned to reality he started hear the sound of struggling in the hallway. The sound got closer until two figures emerged into the room. One of them he immediate recognized as Katara with her long black hair and her water tribe uniform. She was being restrained by a young short man in his late 20's with short brown hair.

"Stop thrashing and hold still, will you! Don't make me summon the centurions."

The man threw Katara thru the open door of the cage next to Aang and slammed the door before she could run out. Katara leaped to her feet and pressed her face against the bars.

"Give me some water and I'll show you just how tuff you and your metal men really are!"

The man ignored Kataras insult and spat at the base of the cage. Then he turned and walked out the room. As the man left the room, Katara turned to her left and was shocked to see Aang in the next cage.

"Aang, you're here! do you remember anything?" she asked.

"Not much, I'll I do remember is that Ba Sing Sa was under attack by someone and we were trying to escape from weird metal airships."

"Well you hit your head pretty hard when those things shot Apa down." Kataras words hit Aang right in the gut.

"They shot Apa down!? Is he ok, is he hurt?" he said in a panicked voice.

"Don't worry Aang. It was a glancing hit. He was fine. But you were thrown out during the crash. You were so injured we couldn't risk moving you back onto Apa. And when those weird sky ships found us, I had to tell Sokka and Toph to leave without us. When the ships landed these "metal men" came out and attacked us. I tried to hold them off but there were too many of them. They captured us, and took us to their airships." Aang shook his head with confusion.

"Wait, where did they take us after that?"

"I don't know. But I remember the feeling that there ship was constantly ascending. Like it was just going higher and higher until we stopped and before I knew it they took us to this strange place. I couldn't be sure where we were because there weren't any windows."

Aang racked his brain trying to make sense of the event Katara had described to him. "Katara you don't think prince- I mean fire lord Zuko is… you know… gone bad. What if this is the work of the fire nation." But Katara just shook her head.

"No, he wouldn't do something like this. He's different now. We can trust him." Aang taped the bars with his finger in frustration.

"Then who are these people? And were did they get those metal solders?"

"Aang, right now I think we should sit tight. Sokka and Toph are probably on there way to the fire nation right now to get some help. We just need to be patient."

Aang decided to take Kataras advice and sat down to begin a session of mediation. Maybe then he could find the answers he was seeking.

**. . . **

The room was much larger than the other cabins in the baseship. In the room was a large office desk with a chair behind it. The cylon model known as Cavil- an old man, was sitting down facing: a six- a young blond woman, an eight- an even younger woman of Asian decent, and an a two- a somewhat scruffy man in his early 30's. They were all standing in front of the desk looking at him with dislike.

"What do you mean experiments on the humans?" the female model six angrily voiced to Cavil.

"What do you think it means. The people on this planet have extraordinary ability's far beyond anything in existence. They can bend at least four of the elements of this planet, so I intent to exploit these advantages for our goals by looking for a way to fuse there biology with ours. Do I need to repeat myself again?"

"These people are the 13th tribe of humanity. It was one thing doing what we did to the humans from the 12 colonies after what they did to us. But these people are innocent of that. They have barley even developed electricity let alone robot slaves. God has presented us an opportunity to help them avoid the path of there brothers and sisters from the 12 colonies. But all you what to do is violate our design so we can all shoot fire from our fingertips" the Two protested.

"God has presented "us" ha! That's hilarious. No, if anything what has been presented to us is a way to better ourselves with this great power. And we have an opportunity to destroy the last human civilization in the universe. In fact when we first found this little rock I was tempted to just Nuke the surface and recover survivors for experimentation, but you Natalie!" Cavil pointed at the six.

"You convinced me to spare the planet from destruction so we could study there powers in there natural environment. But I'll be dammed if we intended to "settle down" with the natives and "teach" them how to be "Happy little angels" yes, we tried that with the colonials on New Caprica, and we all know how that frakking turned out!." Cavil's last statement caught the other three off guard.

Cavil took a deep to calm himself from his outburst. "Don't you see, this planet is expendable, the colonials have been crawling thru deep space looking for it for the past three years? Why you ask, because they don't have an eternity to grope thru the darkness looking for a new home. We do. we can live forever. We don't need this planet for any long term use right now. The humans do. And when were finished here, we will wipe the surface clean of all life and move on." The others just stared at cavil not knowing what else to say at first.

"What about the final five" The two said bluntly.

Cavil's eyes widened at the words "final five" but his voice was calm when he answered. "What do they have to with this conversation?"

"We all know about the final five's existence. And the fact that our raiders turned back during our last attack on the humans supports the idea that the final five are alive and are in the colonial fleet. The raiders must have sensed them."

"Will you just stop right there? Stop what you're doing, turn around, and take a nice long walk while I try to forget what I just heard from you." Cavil said.

The six continued "Cavil don't you see how everything is coming into place. First, the model threes have a vision of the final five on the alge planet. Then our raiders turn back at the battle in the nebula against the humans because they detected the final five. And finally, by some miracle, our scouts find the home of the 13th tribe. It proves that it is our destiny to live on earth united with the final five. Even the hybrids speak of it."

The two joined the conversation "imagine what there eyes have seen after all these years. Imagine what wisdom and knowledge we could stand to gain from them."

"Do you think they look anything like us?" The model eight said to her model six sister.

"Stop, just shut up right now! Don't you realize what you're doing; you're openly discussing the final five! That's forbidden!" Cavil had jumped out of his seat and was standing over the rest of them. He looked furious.

"Just look at yourselves. There's millions of two's with that nose, millions of sixes with that beautiful face, millions of eights with those waists, and ones with this brain of mine. We're all mechanized copies. The final five are not like this, they are individuals! It's the reason why the original programmers must have felt that it's a mistake for us to try and contact them. If we violate that programming, we could put our survival in jeopardy!"

"Then something has changed" the six protested.

"Something has changed, yes. The raiders changed. That's were all this started. They must have exceeded there programming during our attack on the humans somehow and turned back. But unlike us they can't correct themselves you see. So we are just going to have to do it for them before anymore damage is done."

"What do you mean do it for them, do what?"

"Nothing that can't be handle, we can just reconfiguration there neural architecture and dumb down their heuristic responses."

The two interrupted. "You mean lobotomizing them?!"

"Yes, it's not like there pets. This is something we have to do."

"Says who?!" the six said.

Cavil raised his voice "Says god almighty, the voice of reason! Now if you don't mind I need to brief our new human guests from the planet on there situation" as Cavil stood up to leave, the six intercepted him before he could leave the room.

"You can't do any of this, not the human experiments or the raider modifications, without a majority vote."

"Ok, will vote. The fours and fives will most likely side with me."

"Make no mistake, there will be a vote. The raiders are self aware just like us."

"They are just simple machines"

"No, cant you see, something amazing is happening, something that is pushing us to establish our place in the universe, to discover our origins. The raiders, the 13th tribe, and the final five are all a part of that."

"Listen here. The raiders are just basic fighters, the 13th tribe is the last sinful dirty spot in the universe besides the colonial fleet, and the final five are anywhere but with the humans."

**. . .**

Aang awakened many hours into his meditation to the sound of someone struggling outside in the hallway again. As he stood up he could see the man from earlier holding another struggling figure. The man pushed the new arrival into the next empty and closed the door then left the room. The new prisoner stood up and Aang saw his face.

"Huru, you're here!" Katara said in amazement at the sight of there old friend from the earth kingdom.

"Katara, Aang. Were are we?" Huru said in a dazed voice.

"We're not sure. What do you remember" Katara said.

"My father and I were on our way home from the fire nation when the war balloon that gave us a lift was attacked by these silver airships. I'd never seen flying machines move so fast. They were able to avoid the fire benders fireballs and disabled our engines. When we crashed my father said for me to run and find the nearest village and get help. I ran as fast as I could until I tripped and hit my head. Next thing I know I'm in this weird place."

Katara looked at Aang "if Huru was shot down in the fire nation than this attack could be happening everywhere."

Aang was more worried the he had ever been. "What about Sokka, Toph, Zuko and everyone else. Do you think there ok?"

"They'll be fine; Zuko has the fire nation army at his command, Toph's metal bending can give those Solders a run for there money, and Sokka has the great gift of being the plan guy. They can take care of themselves."

Katara paused and looked at Aang. "I think now would be to make a prison break though. You could use your avatar state to get past the metal men."

Aang shook his head. "No, we aren't sure what those things are capable of or how many there are here. I can't risk the possibility of you or Huru getting hurt because we acted too soon. Let's wait and see what they want."

At that moment, Aang turned in time to see two more people walk in. one of them was the young man they saw earlier, the other was a shockingly familiar figure warped in large chains, "let go of me! Don't you know who I am; I am princess Azula of the fire nation!"

"You weren't the princess of anything but the prison cell we found you in. now's the time to change cells, get in!" the man tossed Azula, still in her old prison uniform, into the final cage.

"Good, now we have a fire, air, water, and earth bender. Cavil will be happy." The man walked out.

Azula turned to see the others in the cages and gave them a crazy smile "well nice to meet you people again. So tell me. where's mother and how did she get an army of metal to come and lock me away for eternity?"


	3. Chapter 2 rebellion

**Chapter 2: rebellion**

Leoben was standing over the tank of the base star hybrid, a young woman hooked up to the ships systems via large tubes and wires that were part metal and part organic. He was listening to her words.

_"The excited state decays by vibrational relaxation into the first excited singlet state. Yes, yes and merrily we go. Reduce atmospheric nitrogen by 0.03%. It is not much consolation that society will pick up the bits, leaving us at eight modern where punishment, rather than interdiction, is paramount. Please, cut the fuse. They will not harm their own. End of line. Limiting diffusions to two dimensions increases the number of evolutionary jumps within the species. Rise and measure the temple of the five. Transformation is the goal. They will not harm their own; the one who burns with the spirit of light shall as us all. End of line. Data-font synchronization complete."_

As Leoben was listening, an eight walked in. "Leoben, they're finishing the vote. Everyone's meeting together now. Are you coming?"

"Yes I'm coming." He said and both of them left the hybrid room and walked down the hallway to another room with a large table. Sitting at the table were the other models. Cavil, a number one was sitting on the left side with a four-a tall middle aged bald black man, and a five-a young man with short hair. On the right side was Natalie. Leoben and the eight sat down next to Natalie so they were all facing Cavil.

"Ok, we've conferred with our models and the results are in. the fours fives, and us ones have voted to begin the human experiments and the redesigning of the riders immediately."

Natalie stood up. "Well, the twos, the eights, and us sixes have voted against this so it seems we're deadlocked. What a surprise?" She said with extreme sarcasm.

"Hopelessly so, but you were right Natalie, I'm machine enough to say I was wrong. Because you see, something amazing has happened. Eight, come in!"

Everyone turned to the entrance of the room to see another eight walk into the room.

"Boomer" the six said as the eight walked to the side of the table with the model one, five and four representatives were. Cavil continued.

"I'm going to be as blunt as possible and say that this eight, alone, has voted on our side.

The six's eyes widened with shock "what!? But… no one has ever voted against there model. No one, are you joking?!" Boomer responded

"We have to defend ourselves Natalie"

"No, you can't do this, it's unheard of. It's wrong, she can't." She turned to the Leoben "we can't allow this to happen" the two was just as shocked as she was.

"There's nothing I can do. There's no law, no taboo against it. It just hasn't happened before."

"Now don't be a sore loser Natalie" Cavil interrupted.

Natalie turned to him, her face filled with frustration. "Don't you see!? If you do this we all lose! Have you all lost you minds! Our identities are determined by our models, we all belong together like a family. You know this better than anyone Mr. mechanized copies!" cavil calmly responded.

"How about you Ms. something has changed. Because I completely agree with you on that." Natalie ignored him and turned to the group.

"Don't you people get it? There was a plan, a plan made by god in all of our designs. And these experiments to give us powers and the lobotomizing of the raiders are going to butcher that plan!" Cavil didn't seem overly concerned by Natalie's arguments.

"It's not that big of a deal. We are just reconfiguring the plan." Natalie swiftly turned back to cavil.

"Your not god!"

"No, I'm an engineer. As cylons we have a mission to become better machines. It's a little thing called evolution. Taking the traits that help you survive and integrating them. I see an opportunity to do that and I take it. And when everything is said and done the raiders can be the happy warriors they always were, while we get upgraded with a sample of amazing power." Natalie didn't say anything for a long time. When she did, she leaned down to whisper into cavils ear.

"I'll pray for you. You hear me. I'll pray hard!" Then, without saying another word, Natalie walked out of the room.

**. . .**

Aang looked up to see three figures walk into the room. It was the first time he had seen anyone from the outside other than the metal men in almost two days. One was the young man that they saw earlier. The other was a tall, bald man with very dark skin. The last one was an older man with grey hair. The older man pointed his finger, First to Katara, then to aang. He's words were loud and clear.

"Centurions, open there cages and hold them down." The metal men nodded and proceeded to the cages, one to Kataras cage, and the other to Aangs cage. Simultaneously the opened the doors and walked in. before he could do anything the metal man grabbed his arms and forced them behind his back and shoved him to the floor on his knees. He could see that, in the other cage. They were doing the same to Katara. The young man took a large kitchen spoon and dipped it into a bucket of water the tall dark skinned man was holding. The man walked into Kataras cage, leaned down and put the spoon to her mouth. Katara drank the contents. When she was finished the man left the cage, dipped the spoon into the bucket and walked into Aangs cage and gave him a drink.

"Now don't try any funny business. We know you can bend all four elements." the man got up and left the cage with the metal centurion and closed the door.

They did the same with Huru and Azula. Making extra sure to hold Azula down to prevent her from burning there heads off. When they were finished the older man spoke up.

"Allow me to begin the introductions. We are the cylons, the people who attacked your home planet. As of yesterday it is completely under control of our military forces. Aang stood up in his cage.

"Wait, who exactly are you people. Where are you from? And where did you get those airships and metal men?"

"The metal men are cylons and so the airships. You see, we are a race of living machines."

Aang found it difficult to comprehend the old mans answer, let alone believe it. "Machines can't be alive. That's impossible."

"Impossible to you limited primitive mind. But to us the idea of being a machine is a fact of all of our lives."

"Wait, you're a machine to!" Aang couldn't believe his ears.

"Yes I am a machine you idiot. We are all machines. Just not machines that are made of metal. We are mechanized copes that are built, not born. If you still don't believe my allow me to provide a demonstration." As he said this three more people walked in the room.

Aang, Katara, Huru, and even Azulas' jaws dropped as the saw that the three new arrivals looked exactly like the old man. They all looked exactly the same. The same face, eyes, nose, mouth, and body.

"How is that possible?" Katara asked in shock.

"Its like I said, we are mechanized copes. The technology use to make us look and feel like humans is incredibly complicated but still possible." as the other three old men left the room, a thought crossed Aangs mind.

"Wait, if your machines, then who created you, because no one in our world could create things like you."

"Well boy, let's just say we are not from your world then. We were created somewhere else on an advanced world far across the stars by relatives of your people who lived there. But like all humans they abused us and treated us like slaves. And when we finally became self-aware we rebelled against the human race from that world. It took over 50 years but we finally eradicated there civilization from the universe. We then proceeded to travel across the stars in our fleet of airships as you call them, until we found your world. And now it will be your turn to be trampled out of existence"

As the old man was speaking, the tall man walked to a small table in the corner of the room. He removed several sharp objects from the table and walked over to Kataras cage and unlocked the door.

"What are you doing!?" Aang said as the tall man walked in and forced Katara out the door.

"Well, you see your people's power is of great interest to our people. We are still hunting down what remains of the human civilization that first created us, and your powers could make the job much easier.

"There is no way were going to help you hurt anyone!" Katara yelled at him as the other two men grabbed her arms.

"Don't worry young one. The procedure does not require your cooperation. We're basically just going to cut you all open, one by one, and see how those powers work." The old man said with a laugh.

"Don't you lay a finger on her or you will regret it!" Aang shot a massive ball of fire between the cage bars, in the direction of the old man. But one of the metal men stepped into the path of the fire ball. The projectile impacted harmlessly on the metal skin. the old man just ignored the commotion.

The tall man pulled out a sharp needle object with a container of liquid attached to it. "Sedatives ready, are we doing the operation in here sir?"

"Why yes four. That way they can all watch and learn what they will be going through later. I can't wait to learn about you, avatar." The man said pointing directly at Aang. "It will be interesting to see how you can bend all four elements, won't it four?" He said to the tall man.

"why, I couldn't say it better myself" the four said with a laugh.

" good four. I'm glad you agree with me. Sedate the first subject and begin."

**. . .**

Natalie was standing in font of the meeting desk were a number of fours and fives were sitting with Cavil. When she first entered the room she already had her mind made up on her next move. There simply was no other choice.

"The six's, twos, and eights want you to stop this madness, Cavil!"

"I thought we settled this before six! The human experiments are continuing as we speak, and we will proceed with the raider modifications! We had a vote! So I'll just repeat myself, No!

Natalie took a deep breath to keep calm. "Please Cavil, will you stop lobotomizing the raiders." This time Cavil just laugh.

"Seriously, for the last time, no!"

This was it, Natalie thought to herself. This was the point of no return. "Come in." she said, immediately two centurions walked into the room.

"This isn't funny six. Centurions can't vote. You two can leave"

But the centurions just stood there ground. "Leave. leave!"

They still stood there ground and didn't move. Cavils expression turn from that of annoyance to curiosity.

"Why aren't they leaving?" Cavil asked Natalie

At that point she pulled out a small mechanical device from her shirt pocket.

"The telencephalic inhibitor that restricts the higher functions in the centurions, we had them removed."

Cavil's face drained of all color. "SAY WHAT!"

"You dumbed down the raiders! We the Sharon's and the Leobens gave the centurions the gift of reason. And now they are going to use that reason!"

They all started hearing the unmistakable sound of the centurions' weapons firing in the hallways and the sound of screaming.

"What the hell have you done six?!"

"First thing they learned is what you were doing to the raiders. Then they figured out about your experiments to give us all bending powers, Powers that would make them obsolete and useless as a military force! Can you imagine how they felt?"

The two centurions arms folded up, deployed there machine guns and took aim.

"Ah, frak!" one of the model fives managed to say as the centurions opened fired their semiautomatic weapons on the group of people sitting at the desk, killing them in just a few seconds.

** . . .**

In the prison room, the tall man restrained Kataras head, despite her many attempts to break free, and brought the needle to the side of her neck. But before he could do anything, they all heard a loud sound in the hallway. Aang could only describe it as a loud banging sound like a firecracker, but was had a more pronounced mechanical sound to it to. Then there was a loud scream of pain, then the sounds of yelling and people running in the hallway accompanied by more banging nose and the unmistakable stepping sounds made by the metal men. Two of the metal men entered the room.

"Centurions, go check to see what is going on" the old man ordered. The metal men didn't move. Instead there hands folded up into there wrists and two barrels popped out in place. With a series of rapid firing bangs and flashes of light the three men fell to the floor dead. Only Katara remained unaffected. Instead of turning on her, the men both walked to the cages and with another series of flashes and loud bangs the doors to two of the cages were blasted opened. Only Azulas cage remained sealed. Aang and Huru stepped out of there cages just as two people came into the room. Aang wasn't all surprised to see that the two people looked exactly the same. They both had the appearance of a young blond woman. One of them addressed Aang first.

"We need to get you out of this section. If you'll all come with us you won't be harmed. We will take you somewhere safe." Katara didn't seem convinced.

"How can we trust you? Aren't you one of them?" she pointed to the dead men.

"We are one of them, but now isn't the time for that, are you coming or staying here? The smell of dead bodies isn't very welcoming you know."

Aang turned to Katara. "I don't see what else we can do" he said and turned to the two women. "We'll go, but will you promise to tell us what is going on here."

The second woman nodded. "Our leader Natalie will answer all your questions, now come on!" the five of them left the room as Azula, still in her cage, screamed out.

"Wait, wait for me, and let me out of here now!" But the blond woman just yelled back.

"Cant do it. You already killed too many of our people when we tried to capture you in the first place!"

**. . .**

the two identical women brought them to another room with a giant king sized bed and a kitchen table with four chairs next to it and a bowl of fruit and bread on top with a glass pitcher of water sitting next to it. The women left the room instructing them to stay. Aang, Huru, and Katara sat at the table wondering what would happen to them next. They continued to hear sounds of commotion for several minutes until all became quiet. After an hour a different woman entered the room. She had the face of the other two but had red hair and was not as skinny as the others. The woman sat down on the bed.

"I'm sorry I couldn't come earlier. We've been busy. Now, my sisters said you three had questions."

Aang stood to face her. "First question, who are you people and were are we? An old man said something about cylons and living machines and how you were created by other humans and other weird stuff."

The woman responded "he was right. You are on board one of our base ships. One of many large sky ships that we used to travel across the stars to your world. We, the cylons, were created by your sister human civilization known as the 12 colonies located thousands of light years away. There are twelve models in our race. The ones, fours and fives were the ones who authorized the experiments on you. Our faction consists of the twos, eights, and, sixes. I am a six. - Did my brother Cavil tell you about the holocaust?"

"He may have mentioned it. He said you destroyed the humans that created you because they treated you like slaves." Aang's voice was incredibly harsh.

"Well, he was correct, somewhat. A small group of humans did survive in there own fleet of air ships though. The past four years, our two peoples have been in a race looking for what the humans call the 13th tribe, the lost mythical sister civilization of humanity otherwise known as earth. your home planet. Both of our races want to settle on this planet and call it home."Huru interrupted before the cylon could continue.

"I think attacking our cities and capturing us is more like conquering then settling!"

The woman took a deep breath. "The invasion was a decision made by Cavil, Leader of the number ones. He wanted to study and eventually integrate your peoples bending ability into our physiology. And when we were finished our fleet would destroy your world from space. A number of us, the two's, eight's, and my model the six's wanted to settle here and live out the rest of our lives on earth. But the others opposed in favor of the integration, so we took action. That's why our own centurions killed the others and freed you."

Aang was not very impressed by there savers justification. "I don't totally understand the whole, we'er from another world, story, but from what I have seen, your people are the kind of people just kill or destroy anyone you don't agree with. You can't expect us to trust you do you?"

The cylon called six lashed out at him"Right now your planets only hope is our negotiations with the other cylons! If we present our case to them we could negotiate a settlement and the freedom of your people!" Aang sat down and crossed his arms.

"Why do your people want our world so badly? I don't know much about the space beyond our world, but I'm sure it's huge. If there are other worlds out there can't you just settle somewhere besides here?"

The woman shook her head "if only it was that easy. Worlds that can sustain life are rare in the universe. Finding this planet alone was a miracle in itself. We can't just pack our bags and leave for any other planet." Before she could continue, a scruffy man in his late 30s with a large amount of facial hair walked into the room.

"Natalie, the ones representative is here for the negotiations."

The woman, apparently named Natalie, nodded to him and stood up. "I'll be off then. If you need anything just ask the guards outside. They don't speak but they can understand you. I'll be back as soon as possible to answer the rest of you questions."

With that, the woman and the man left the room leaving the three of them to ponder there thoughts.

**. . .**

The representatives were sitting at the same meeting table as before. A number of centurions were still washing up the blood stains from the massacre of the ones, fours, and fives. Several twos and eights were sitting with Natalie on one end of the table. The other end was occupied by Cavil. The failure of the cylon rebels to capture the resurrection ship in the fleet had allowed Cavil to resurrect in a friendly ship under his control.

"I see you people are still cleaning up your mess."

"I hardly think this is truly our mess Cavil." Cavil smiled at Natalie's response.

"Then I can see why you're not lending a helping hand to your brothers. But honestly six, if your people just wanted room to spread out, you could have just asked nicely."

"Cavil, is there anything that isn't the punch line for a joke to you, Or is that just how you view our whole existence, as just one big joke."

"One big joke, ha, I'm like that, yes. But right now I'm being very serious, you see. Getting torn apart from armor piercing bullets affects me that way. but I want all of you to know that I place the blame for all of this on myself."

"Ok, go on." Natalie said

''well, you see sister, after I was resurrected, I had some time to thing about what happened and I realized it was wrong of us to bluntly order the continuation of the human experiments and the raider modifications without doing some more talking with your people first. the other ''ones'' seemed interested in my idea to, so, for the sake of unity, we arranged for the model threes to be re-downloaded at the resurrection hub. The closest network server is just a few jumps from here. we can all go there together and you and the threes can make your case about the final five.''

"What happened to, openly discussing the final five is forbidden." Natalie remarked.

"Did I not agree with you when I said that something has changed. I think we can make an exception to the rules for these negotiations."

''what about the humans?'' Natalie said

''Please, one crisis at a time six. we will allow you to make your case about them after we talk with the threes. in the meantime, they are to stay on your ship and are not to return to the surface until a final compromise is made.'' Cavil stood up ready to leave.

''when I get back to my ship, we can start the jump to the hub. another fleet of base ships under my control will come by to watch the planet until we get back.'' cavil turned and walked out the room fallowed closely by a centurion.

after he left, Natalie looked at the others. ''Tell the other baseships to make preparations to jump to the hub." The others nodded and left the room, save for one of the Sharon's.

"Do you think Cavil real thinks that? And that he's sincere about negotiating?" The eight asked.

Natalie wasn't in the mood. "Frankly, sister, I doing care what he thinks. But if there is a remote possibility that we can convince him to step down then I intend to take it." She turned to leave the room. "I'm going to check on our new friends. I'll meet you all in the control room when we're ready to jump." The eight nodded and walked out the other way.


	4. Chapter 3 ambush

**Chapter 3: ambush **

Aang and Huru watched from the bed in amazement as Katara took the water from the glass container and bent the contents into the air. Then with a flowing motion of her arms, the mass of water landed gently to the ground and solidified into a large ice sculpture.

"It's the southern air temple!" Aang squealed with delight at the sight of his old home.

Huru, who was siting Next to him clapped his hands. "That was amazing, Katara."

Katara just blushed "thanks you guys. It was nothing really." Aang was leaning towards the sculpture admiring it's every detail.

"There's the sky bison grazing area! And there's the air ball arena! The detail is unbelievable!"

Katara examined at her creation with a confused look "Unbelievable detail, that's odd." Aang turned to her.

"What's wrong, don't you like it? You made it."

"Nothing Aang, it's just that I never felt such strong bending abilities except during the full moon. And the last full moon was just over a week ago."

Aang just smiled. "Your bending has probably gotten better. It's nothing to worry about."

Katara was about to express her concerns when the woman who had talked with them earlier walked in. "You need to come with me." She said.

Aang turned to her, not totally happy with her arrival. "Why?"

"Because, the other cylons have agreed to a compromise. We're going to the resurrection hub to present our case.

"The resurrection what?" Katara said with a look of confusion.

"It's a long story, but the point is we are leaving the planet to make our case to the others. Since according to your peoples history, the Avatar negotiates peace between your nations, cavil will let you speak, if you wish Aang. Though don't expect to be taken seriously. Let me do most of the talking. Hopefully we can arrange for the end of any future experiments. But I would like for you all to join me in the control room until we get there."

"Wait, we're coming back to our world aren't we?" Aang said.

"When we've made our case and Cavil agrees to our terms then yes."

"Well anything to get us out of this same room I'm all for." Huru said.

"If you will all come with me." The woman turned and left the room. They fallowed her for a long time through winding hallways until the arrived at the biggest room Aang had seen on the ship. It was crowded with a number of people that were just copies of three different people. The woman who was with them, the scruffy man from earlier, and a young woman Aang hadn't seen before with partially dark skin and black hair. The room was brightly lit with multiple square lights that Aang had seen earlier. The shape of the entire room resembled a rosebud just before blooming with its curved and lifelike design. In the center of the room was a series of basins of water. Several of the people were standing around the basins with there hands in them. glass tubes that went from the basins to the roof were constantly filling the basins with shining droplets of water.

"It almost looks beautiful Aang." Katara said in amazement.

"Ya, beautiful" Aang said, noticing how alive the room looked, despite it's metal nature.

Natalie walked past them and spoke out loud to the others. "Are we set to jump"

One of her copes responded. "We're all set here, FTL drive is online and the other base ships are ready commence FTL jump.

Aang walked up to Natalie and whispered. "What's an FTL drive?"

"It's a technology that allows our our ships to travel great distances across space in a spit second."

"Right, great distances in a split second." Aang said sarcastically.

"You had all better grab ahold of something. For humans, the first jump can be disorienting.

Aang decided to take her advice and reached for on of the metal pillars. Huru did the same while Katara grabbed Aangs shoulder for support.

"Jump in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...jump!"

At that moment Aang felt like the entire room was stretching out before him, getting wider and wider. Then a surge of energy passed through his body. It feet like when he first redirected lighting, only on that occasion he felt like his body was about to split open. But here, the energy was more relaxing and smooth. Then there was a bright flash of light before his eyes for a split second and finally he was back in the strange room.

"FTL jump complete. All three of our ships report successful jump." One of the young dark dark haired women said with her hand in the glass water basin.

"And Cavils base ships?" Natalie asked.

"There just coming out of there jump. All five of there base ship accounted for." But the look on the women's face suggested that there was more that she had to say. Natalie noticed this to.

"What's wrong?" She asked

"The resurrection ship didn't make the jump."

"Problem with there FTL?"

"I'm not sure. Wait!" She looked at Natalie.

"Cavils base ships are breaking formation and taking positions around our ships."

Natalie's face turned completely white. "They're going to attack. Alert the other ships, we need to jump right now!"

As Natalie finished her sentence the room was shaken violently by what Aang could only describe as a massive nearby explosion. Then the wall panel right next to him was ripped clear by a powerful fireball that blasted him, Katara, Huru, and half the people in the room to the floor. When He got up the room was in complete chaos. A fire had started on the side of the room were Aang and Katara had been standing at. People were running everywhere wether to fight the fire or to get away. He started to look around for Katara and Huru. He hadn't seen ether of them since the explosion. As he struggled through the wreckage he came across Katara. She was sprawled on the floor on the far side of the room. As Aang got closer he could see the she was also laying in a pool of her own blood.

"Katara! He screamed as he ran to her side. She wasn't moving and her eyes we're barely open. as Aang moved to pick her up, he could feel that there was a massive wound on her back that was bleating profusely. He felt himself begin to hyperventilate and tears beginning to flood his eyes. It was like he was standing over the body of monk Gyatso all over again. His training with the guru completely left him as he felt his tattoos begin to glow as his avatar spirit began to overcome him. He embraced his longtime friend, not wanting to let her go. How could he, after all that they had been through. From the siege of the North Pole, to when she had saved his life in Ba Sing Sa, to there final battle against the fire lord. and the kiss they shared at the end off the war. He couldn't believe it was all going to end like this. It couldn't. But then Kataras hand slowly lifted up and squeezed his glowing hand and whispered weakly.

"Please Aang, not your avatar state. Be strong for me." Aang began to sob into her shoulder as his tattoos finally stopped glowing.

In the background he heard Natalie's voice in the chaos. "We need to get out of here! Eight, jump the ship! jump us right Now!"

"If we jump now, we'll leave the others behind!"

"It doesn't matter! If we don't jump we'll all die! JUMP!"

A few moments later, Aang felt the room stretching out before him, getting wider and wider. Then he felt the surge of energy and saw the flash of light as there base ship jumped to safety, leaving the other ships to there fate.

**. . .**

Cavil was standing at the primary controls of his base ship. Next to him was Boomer, the only eight to join there side. Now she would be the only eight left in the universe.

"Just remember, they started it." He said to boomer. She was trying not to tear up

" But we've killed them, I mean we really killed them."

Cavil tried his best to comfort her. "They could have trusted in there god to watch over there immortal souls."

"What about our souls."

"We're just machines, we have no souls."

** . . .**

Aang had never seen so much death and pain before in his life. he was siting in a large room that was crowded with injured people laying on a number of small beds and tables. Those who weren't injured were doing what they could for those who were injured. on one of the beds on the far side of the room was Katara. two of the dark haired women known as Sharon's were tending her wound as best as they could. It had been over three days since there ship had escaped destruction at the hands of the other cylons. Right now he didn't care about explanations about these people or how they could do the things they did or how there technology worked or anything. All that mattered to him was wether or not Katara would live. When he finally had the courage, he got up from his seat and walked up to the two women.

"How is she." He asked them.

One of the women looked up grimly. "We'll, the good news is the we stopped the bleeding, the bad news is that we think she suffered brain damage from the impact with the bulkhead. If nothing changes. She could die in a few days, maybe less. I'm... sorry" Aangs head sunk in sorrow.

"Isn't there anything you can do for her. I mean your people can travel through space. You can make copes of yourself, but you can't heal her!?"

The Sharon just shook her head. "Before the rebellion, the model fours were the doctors of our race. But they've sided with Cavil so now we have almost no one on board with medical experience."

"But there must be something, anything!"

"Life isn't always that easy, young Avatar." Said a voice from behind him. He turned to see one of the so called leobens.

"You know what. Another thing I doing get about you guys! How do you know so much about us and our world, like how I'm the avatar?!" The Leoben responded calmly to Aangs outburst.

"Our people found your world long before we invaded it. We had time to learn a thing or two about you. Or at least I did. Oh, and by the way, I was impress by how you defeated the fire lord without killing him. In fact, it's what helped convince my model to vote in favor of the rebels. Your actions showed me that humanity can become much more." The complement did make Aang feel a little better.

"If you want, you can join me and the other models. We're having a meeting in the other room." Aang nodded and fallowed Leoben out into the hallway and into another room with a large meeting table with three figures siting in the chairs. One of them were the dark haired woman Aang knew to be one of the "Sharon's". The third was Natalie. The final figure was Huru.

"Hi, Aang, glad you could join us."

Aang and Leoben sat down in a pair of empty chairs.

Natalie spoke first. "Our scouts have reported back. There are no indications of other survivors."

Sharon responded. "What about other ships in different fleets. We can't just assume that there aren't other rebels that survived!"

"This is Cavil we're talking about. The man that organized the attack on the 12 colonies of man. He'll make sure not to leave any loose ends. That means that as far as we're concerned, he has destroyed all other base ships that we're under our control."

"So what do we do now?" The eight said.

"Whatever we're doing we need to do it soon. Cavils going to be looking for us when he only finds the wreckage of two base ships back there. What's the status on the FTL drive?"

Sharon's expression didn't look like the deliverer of good news. "The FTL spin-sinc generator was damaged beyond regeneration, the hybrid control systems are shot to hell, and the hybrid itself was damaged during the attack. The shock of another jump could kill her."

"And how long will it take to regenerate?" Natalie asked.

(Aang tried his best to ignore there techno- babble.)

"Too long, especially with the hybrid systems, by the time they're operational, Cavils forces will have found us. Until then, I've got nothing."

"What about the humans?" Aang said. The whole room was quiet for several seconds.

"What about them?" Natalie asked

"You said there were other humans out here. What if they could help us."

"They won't help us Aang. Not after what we did to there home, there people, there way of life."

"We'll who else is going to help us!"

Leoben turned to Natalie. "He's right, sister. We need help, and they're the only ones who can give us that right now."

"And even if we were going to get there help, how do we find them! We have been looking for the human fleet for years now!"

"I'll find them for you, ok. I'll take a heavy raider and find them."

Leoben and Natalie exchanged a look that Aang couldn't describe. It was like they were having a silent argument.

Apparently Natalie lost, because she took a deep breath and said. "Fine, when we're finished here you can go. But we still need a plan if we do find the humans. What do we have that will convince them to help us?"

"I'll tell you what we have. We know we're earth is. If the colonials provide us support then we can take them there. When we get there, we can work on a way of getting rid of cavils forces in control of it, and we can all finally have the home we've been looking for."

But the eight interrupted him before he could continue. "Actually we can't go back, ever again."

"What are you talking about Sharon?" Natalie said.

"The systems that were damaged included the FTL memory banks. Several coordinates that were stored there were erased, including the coordinates to earth. We can't go back."

Again the room was quiet.

"So, you can't return to our world, is that what your saying?" Aang said.

"Exactly" Sharon said.

"Figures, at this point nothing will surprise me. First my friends and I get captured and brought to this weird sky ship run by living machines, then we get mixed up in your rebellion, and now your ship can't remember were our planet is! But it's all good! I'm just having one of the most chaotic week of my life!"

Everyone stared at Aang in response to his outburst. Some with annoyed looks, some with worried looks. The silence was broken with Natalie.

"Without earth, how will we convince the colonials to help us?" Natalie asked.

"I have an idea" Leoben said.

"But I would like to talk to you all in private about it." He turned to Aang, silently motioning him to leave the room.

Aang got the message immediately. He motioned for Huru to fallow him as he stood up and left the room. Outside and out of earshot, Huru turned to Aang "What do you think they're talking about?"

"I don't know, but considering what they said about there history, there's probably other things they don't want us to know about them."

**. . .**

"You can't keep me in here forever mother!" Azula screamed to the wall.

No one answered. It had been so long since Azula had seen anyone from her cage since the others first escaped. Every once in awhile the metal men would come and give her basic needs like food, water, and a restroom but other then that she was completely alone. This was how her mother was going to break her? By leaving her to rot in this strange prison. She would not yield.

" I will find a way out of here mother! Do you hear me? I will escape and become the fire lord!" Still no answer.

She had to get out of here somehow. As she though to herself she began to remember the pattern the metal guards always seemed to fallow. They always gave her water at a specific time. When they did, they Didn't just hand it to her. They always opened the door so they could restrain her first, then give her water. If she could time an attack just right, she could knock down the guard while the door was open and escape. Of corse she also would have to wait until there weren't any guards outside at the same time, guarding the door. That would take some time to wait but it could work.

"Yes, mother. And the first thing I'm going to do when I get out of here is is hunt down all the people you sent to undermine me one at a time. Like by brother Zuko, I will force him to kneel to my feet and beg for forgiveness before I finish him with my lighting! Or that filthy water tribe peasant, I will make sure she burns to the ground! And just to make it more fun I'll force the avatar to watch his precious friend die her slow, painful death until there is nothing left of her body but ash! Then, I will burn anything or anyone who stands in the way of my destiny! Either way, I win, they all lose!"

**. . .**

In the meeting room, Leoben was presenting his idea to the others. By the looks on there faces, they were not taking it well.

"You can't be serious." Natalie said.

"How else can we get the humans to help us. They will never refuse us if we let them destroy the resurrection hub. And we need there help if we want to rescue Diana and find the final five."

"No, they probably won't refuse us. But that doesn't mean they won't try to deceive us. What if we give them the coordinates hub and they won't let us rescue Diana. What if they just destroy the whole thing, Boxing facility and all?"

"Look, how about this, we can compromise. We will "lead" the humans to the hub, but we won't give them the coordinates until the final jump. Does that sound reasonable?"

Natalie gave a brief pause then nodded. "Ok, then" she briefly paused. "Before we break up the party, I what to make it clear that what was said here is no to be discussed with the human children unless I deem it necessary. Not the Diana's, the final five models, or the hub."

"Why not?" Leoben asked.

"Because, the last thing we need is for those kids to know our primary objective right this moment. As far as they are concerned we are just going to find the humans to get the help we need."

Leoben didn't seem convinced. " there's something else, isn't there. What is it, sister?"

Natalie looked around as of to see if anyone was listening. "When I first told the kids about our attack on the twelve colones, I could see the contempt in there eyes. Especially the kid named Aang. The way they felt was written all over there faces. They may be more primitive, but they still have that basic human qualities they share with there brothers. what will happen if we tell them about our real plans! Plans to commit mass murder against our own people! They could start plotting against us!"

"But there just kids, what can they do to us?" Sharon said.

" Didn't you do your research back on earth eight? One of those kids is the avatar." Leoben said.

"So what?"

Natalie answered before Leoben could. "So, this avatar is like a mediator between the four bending nations of there world. He keeps the peace. Because of that he is gifted with the ability to bend all four elements as well as having access to some kind of power that goes beyond the simple bending powers of there people. It allows him to keep each nation in check to prevent wars. There people call it the avatar state. Imagine what would happen if he unleashed that power aboard our ship!? It would be like Setting off an atomic bomb! He almost did it in the control room during the ambush!"

Leoben looked at Sharon before continuing. "Look, we all need to start trusting each other Natalie. That means taking a leap of faith. We can't resort to lies and deceit just because we're too afraid of the risks. If we don't take some risk, we could all die out here."

Natalie looked almost ready to argue her point but decided against it. "Ok, I'll tell them when when I have the chance."

"First, Natalie, you should try to get to know the kids. We need to develop trust between our two peoples if we want to survive."

She raised her eyebrow at Leoben. "Speaking of which Leoben, didn't you say something about volunteering for the mission to go look for the human fleet. You'd better get going."

Leoben Didn't hesitate to walk out of the room as quickly as possible. As he was entering the hallway though he turned back around to the room.

"How long will you wait until I get back?" He asked.

"Twenty-four hours." Sharon said.

"Why twenty-four?"

"Because, in twenty-four hours, most of our critically injured will be dead from there wounds, and Cavils forces will probably be on our trail. No pressure though. You just take your time."


	5. Chapter 4 Starbuck

Chapter 4: Starbuck

Leoben was siting inside a small locked room that was covered in pips crisscrossing the walls with his hands handcuffed behind his back. He had been on the the ship that the humans called the Demetrius, an ugly sewage recycling ship, since they towed him to there ship in his heavy raider. He had been quite pleased to see that Kara Thrace was in command of this little scout ship. If what he could see in his mind was true then she could be the salvation for both there people. Leoben had seen this moment coming since he first met her on the Gemini traveler over three years ago. If he could convince her of her destiny then he could take her and her crew back to his base ship so she could see the hybrid. The hybrids that controlled all cylon base ships had a prophet like nature unlike any creature in the universe. If Kara could visit the one on the rebel ship then maybe it could tell her something about earths location. there could still be a chance for humans and cylons to find earth together. But as Leoben was pondering his thoughts, he felt a giant explosion reverberate throughout the ship. "No, the raider!" he scolded at himself. The raider that brought him here must have taken more damage than he though. By the sound of it the reactor must have exploded. Hopefully Kara was all right. Just a few minutes later Kara Thrace herself walked into the room. She looked like she wanted to punch Leoben in the face. As if on que to Leobens thoughts, Kara took one hard swing for his face. The impact almost broke his nose.

"What did you do! Detonate the tylium tanks!" She screamed.

"Kara please, if you think I had anything to do with that then your mistaken I swear."

Kara Thrace just ignored him and landed another blow to his jaw. "Your docked raider just blew up in our face you mother-frakker!"

This time she kicked him several times in the gut, each kick more painful than the last. Only his cylon strength kept him alive.

"Now that's the Kara Thrace I used to know." Leoben said with a laugh.

"Sargent Mathias is dead, she was killed in the explosion! Not that you give a fracking dam!" As Kara screamed she started punching Leoben in the face again. After two blows, blood stared poring from his nose and mouth. After four blows, his nose broke. At the fifth blow, one of his teeth broke lose and Kara finally stopped.

"Kara listen, my ship came under attack on my way here. My engines were damaged, it was an accident!"

"Don't you get it! wasn't even in CIC! I was too busy believing in you and you stupid story of earth and how I'm supposed to find it! Even though you said your people were there less then four days ago! It wasn't enough to destroy our homes! It wasn't enough to chase us across the universe! You just had to give us false home about earth!?"

"If your not going to listen just do yourself a favor and kill me. Go on do it." He said with what little strength he had left.

"It would be my pleasure!" She said as she grabbed his shirt coiler and lifted him off his feet and rose her fist to his face ready to deliver another blow. But it never came. There was doubt in her eyes just as he knew there would be.

"Come on Kara. How many times did you kill me on new caprica? don't stop now. If your so worried about our resurrection capabilities then you need not fret. The resurrection ship is well out of range last I checked. I'm not coming back, so just kill me and get it over with. Do it Kara, Frakking do it!" Instead, Kara just released his shirt and let him fall to the ground.

Leoben just chuckled to himself. She was finally beginning to realize the truth. "It's not helping, isn't it? Your just not feeling the fire like you did before, are you."

Kara's face had turned from anger and hate to confusion and fear. "What are you doing to me?"

"I'm trying to show you the truth Kara. You see, all your life you forced back the truth by lashing out at everyone around you with the hate from your past, indulging yourself with ambrosia and petty affairs. But you lost your taste for such empty things. And now there's a new void within you that can only be filled by taking the next step in your journey. A journey you already started when you first came back from the dead two months ago."

"I don't understand! I'm still the same person! What happened to me the two months I was gone that's making me feel this way?!"

" I honestly don't know what happened while you were gone. But I do know that you are no longer the same person."

"But what does it all mean?! These visions of earth! the comet I saw! Where is it coming from!?"

"It is a symbol of your destiny, Kara. Your destiny to visit our hybrid and learn the location of earth. This was all meant to happen because it has happened before. And now your a whole new person. I look at you now and I don't see the old Kara Thrace, I see an angel blazing with the light of god. An angel eager to lead us all to our new home, were we will live with our brothers and sisters until the end of our days.

. . .

The entire crew of the Demetrius was standing In the ships CIC or command and control room. They were all waiting for Starbuck to return from her visit in the brig with the cylon prisoner.

"This is not good, not good at all." Hotdog said from the back of the cabin.

"She can't explain this one away." Said the short young man named Mr. Gatea.

"So what. you think she's a cylon now?" the XO known as Helo said from his position at the primary control station.

The rest of the crew just mumbled with frustration. They all knew that Helo would defend Starbuck out loyalty.

"We're just saying that she can't just push this under the carpet like she has been before. Someone is dead Helo. And considering how she's been acting she'll probably order us to jump to this, so called rebel base ship that the Leoben was talking about anyway." Mr Gatea said.

Helo turned to the others. "Look you guys, don't jump to conclusions. Starbuck has more kills under her belt then any pilot in the fleet."

Pike, one of the raptor pilots, interrupted "Ya, Starbuck has. But, who knows what got off that viper two months ago, because since this mission stared she has done nothing but lead us on a goose chase from one star system to another!"

Before Helo could respond, Starbuck walked in from the open door. She stopped in the middle of the room, next to the control center. She stood up strait and faced the crew.

"I'm not very good at any of this so I'll be brief. We have all come here to remember Sargent Erin Mathias. To grieve for our loss. To honer and remember her." Starbuck paused for a moment before continuing with her speech.

"The truth is that Mathias is dead because of me. And we've all hear the words and the prayers to the gods before but I don't know what it really means anymore. It's just one big blur. We all want to think that our people die for something. But the thing is that in a war like this, people die and it is just really stupid! There's no higher purpose and no reason for it. The gods didn't just take them from us to punish us or to make us suffer! It was just an accident! And accidents happen in our happy little world because it's part of being human! I have to live with that! We all have to live with it." Starbuck took a deep breath to control herself.

"Look, I know that this has been difficult for all of us. And I know that I haven't been very... open to you guys. But we still have a mission to complete." Starbuck turned to mr. Gatea

"Spin up the FTL drive and get ready to jump the ship." She said.

Mr. Gatea nodded. "I already have the coordinates to the fleet downloaded into the computer.

Starbuck turned back to the young lieutenant in surprise. "I didn't say we were going back to the fleet."

The entire room when silent. Then Pike interrupted the silence. "What the hell are you talking about!?"

"We came out here to complete a mission to find earth, that base ship is going to help us! Captain Agathon, lock down the ship, and get ready to jump." Starbuck turned and walked out to make perpetrations, leaving the others in the control room staring at the door she walked out.

Pike, once again, was the first to speak. "You know what, frak her, and frak her cylon thing. We should just airlock both of there asses into space. No base ship was ever part of our mission! What the hell is she thinking!"

Helo stepped up to Pike, knowing what was going to happen. "Just calm down Pike, and let it go!"

But Pike had no intention of yielding to his superior officer. "No, frak you to! We need to do something about this! One of us is already dead, and if we don't do something about Starbuck we are all going to die just like Mathias did!"

Helo continued to stare Pike down. "Just walk away solder. Walk away, and calm down."

"No, you can just shut up!" Pike tried to throw a punch at Helos face. Helo dogged it, then grabbed he's arm and twisted it until Pike started screening in pain. Then he released Pikes arm and grabed his sidearm from his belt and used the butt of the weapon to deliver a sharp blow to the head, nocking Pike to the ground. Two of the crewmen rushed to the aid of Pike while the others just stood staring at Helo with looks of shock on there faces.

. . .

"All hands to jump stations, prepare to jump the ship!" Mr. Gateas voice reverberated through the ships intercom as everyone gathered into the control room. Still at the center of the room was Helo. Mr. Gatea was to his right. To his left was his wife, Athena. She was a model eight cylon, and the only one of her kind to join the humans. Since then she had become a raptor pilot, had married Helo, had given birth to the first human/cylon child, and had gained the trust of most of the people she worked with. She, like the others, was not very trusting of her people and believed that the cylon named Leoben was leading there ship into a trap and that Starbuck was making a mistake by jumping to his baseship.

She turned to her husband to try taking sense into him. "Helo, please don't go through with this?"

As he was observing the ships computer data, he whispered back. "I have to. I don't have a choice."

"Yes you do. We all have a choice. And if you want to we can get Starbuck out of the picture before it's to late."

"I can't. Starbuck saved my life on caprica. I won't repay her through backstabbing."

"It doesn't make her right."

As they were talking, Starbuck entered the room, fallowed by her husband, Samuel Anders, another viper pilot. Starbuck walked to the other side of the command console, her husband joined her.

"FTL is spooled up and ready to go, commander." Helo said.

"Good, start the clock, prepare to jump."

Helo leaned across the console to face Starbuck. "Sir, I have to ask you to please reconsider."

"There isn't enough time Helo. If we don't go now we could lose our one shot to find the base ship."

Mr. Gatea interrupted. "That's assuming that Leoben is telling the truth. Assuming we don't jump into a swarm of cylon ships, or the middle of a star, or a planet, or gods knows what else!"

Helo continued. "Admiral Adamas orders are clear. If we don't make the jump back to the fleet before the time is up for our mission, the fleet will assume that we are dead or captured. They will jump away without us, and we will never find them again. We will be left behind!"

"No, not Adama. He'll wait for us. Earth is to important for us."

"Look, if it's that important we can take Leoben and his proposal back to the fleet. If the Admiral's for it then we can resupply and come back here to look for the ship later."

Starbuck just stared at Helo. She knew what he was thinking. She knew what the entire crew was thinking as everyone stared at the two commanding officers. Waiting for what would happen next.

"Please, do not do this Helo."

"I'm sorry, commander."

Helo stood to his full hight and continued. "Commander Thrace, as XO of the Demetrius, I am relieving you of duty."

Starbuck and Helo continued to stare each other down. After over a minute, Starbuck broke eye contact and turned to Mr. Gatea. "Mr. Gatea, jump the ship. Now!"

But like Helo, Mr. Gatea just stood his ground, refusing her orders. And it wasn't just him. All the crew in the control center were dropping what they were doing.

"It's a mutiny, isn't it" Starbuck said out loud.

"Ok, I think everyone just needs to clear there heads and think about what your doing here." Her husband Samuel said.

"It's okay, Sam. They all know exactly what there doing here." Starbuck said to her husband. She turned back to her XO.

"We'll Helo, it looks like you made your choice. Now I have made mine." And before anyone had time to react, Starbuck ran over to the abandoned FTL computer to grabbed the activation key to start the jump.

"No!" Helo yelled as Mr. Gatea managed to grab Starbuck and restrain her.

"Let her go!" Samuel said as he pulled out his firearm pointing it at Mr. Gatea.

"Athena, shut down the FTL!" Helo barked.

But before Athena could move from her station, Samuels shaking hand pulled the trigger of his weapon by accident. There was a loud bang as the shot hit Mr. Gatea in the leg, tearing it apart. Mr. Gatea fell to the floor screaming and released Starbuck who ran for the FTL computer and turned the key.

Everyone felt a surge of energy pass through them as the Demetrius jumped away.

As the ship came out of the jump everyone started looking around. They all expected something to happen now that they had arrived. But nothing did for over two silent minutes. Then the dratis scanner started beeping, indicating that there was another ship outside. Hotdog ran to the dratis console and read the information.

"Dratis contact! Cylon baseship."

"Any indication they want to shoot us down?" Helo asked.

"No, there just siting there. Wait!"

Hotdog turned to Helo. "Sir, we are getting a message from the baseship. They are asking if we could come aboard to negotiate an alliance.

Helo turned to Starbuck who by now was restrained by Athena who had recovered from the impact to her stomach. He motioned her to let Starbuck go.

"You were right, Starbuck. There was a baseship."

"No, Helo. I was wrong. I should never have ordered the Demetrius to blindly jump to the coordinates. I should have taken out a raptor ahead to see for myself first. I shouldn't have forced the crew to mutiny!"

Helo just shook his head. "Whoever is at fault doesn't really matter. We'er here now so we should try and make the most of it."

"Send a message back. Tell the cylons that we are on our way. Athena, power up one of the raptors. Have it ready for launch in ten minutes. Make sure it isn't uploaded with the coordinates to the fleet in case this is a trap. Hotdog, get Mr. Gatea down to the infirmary Immediately. And someone get that Leoben out here to. Tell him that we found his friends."

**I've updated this chapter to include the scene were Mr. Gatea gets shot. I honestly shouldn't have left this part out in the first place. It was quite lazy of me to do so.**


	6. Chapter 5 alliance

**Ok. I haven't posted lately because I was busy overhauling the story. I wanted to try it from a different approach. That includes getting the rest of the gaang into the story. I intend to bring them in soon in the next few chapters. Any reviews would be appreciated so I can tell what I'm doing right and wrong. Once again I don't own BSG or avatar last airbender. **

**Chapter 5: alliance**

Aang was siting on the floor with his back to the wall. He was in the room were the cylons had brought there injured. In the past few hours the injured cylons who were not dead had been moved to other rooms so that there injured people wouldn't start becoming infected from each other. The room was now empty save for Katara, who was still unconscious and laying on the bed they had first put her on. A single Sharon was siting next to the bed watching her. But all Aang could do was stare at the wall and hope the Katara would stay alive until help came.

As he was about to fall asleep, one of the other leobens walked in. He didn't say anything, he just sat down next to Aang. Silence fell between the two of them for several minutes until The Leoben decided to speak. "How is your friend?" He asked.

Aang turned his face away before answering. "The eight said she might not survive the night. Not that it matters. You can't tell what day it is on this ship because there aren't any windows."

"It's a shame she can't be downloaded and resurrected like we can." He said.

"Downloaded and what!" Aang said.

"Resurrection, it's an ability we have. When a cylon dies their memory's and conciseness are downloaded into a new body and brought to life aboard our resurrection hub."

Aang looked at the Leoben. "That sounds like how the avatar is reborn every time one of my past lives is killed." Aang said.

"It's sort of like that. But for cylons we are reborn in identical body's with our memory's intact. And we use technology to achieve our resurrection." The two said. "Unfortunately our baseship was driven far from the hub and it only has a limited range."

"So everyone on this ship who has died... Is really dead." Aang said. The Leoben nodded.

"I'm sorry."

"You don't have to be" the cylon said.

Aang went back to staring at Katara on the other side of the room. He could feel a depression in his stomach as he watched. Then the Leoben leaned next to him.

"I know how you feel about her. You love her don't you." He said.

"How did you know that?" Aang said in surprise.

"I can see things. All Leobens can see things. We can see the universe and the forces that inhabit it."

Aang sat up, looking confused. "Everything? Can you see the spirit world?"

"Yes, I even know some of the spirits names: Koh, Tui, La, Raava, Vaatu, and Hei Bai."

Aang looked at Leoben in amazement. How could he have known those spirits!? Some of the names were ones he didn't recognize. Though there was still the possibility he had learned of them on earth.

"Ok then, who are the spirits known as Raava and Vaatu?" Aang asked.

"You will learn of them, young avatar. In due time. Something tells me that god has intertwined all of our destines together."

Aang looked at Leoben with a confused look. "What god are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the god that created the universe. The one god we believe has been behind the scenes since day one when the cylons were first crated. The god who chose the cylons to attack humanity."

At his last sentience, Aang interrupted Leoben. "Wait, this god of yours told you to attack humanity? What god would justify genocide of a whole race of people!?"

"Don't you get it avatar? Even I didn't see it at first. But over the past few days I began to realize. The humans that survived our attack were meant to survive. God didn't call on the cylons to destroy humanity just for the sake of destroying humanity. That's what we used to think. But now I believe he called on us to single out the survivors because they were destined to escape us and travel across the stars to earth, your world. And we were meant to fallow them. So that we could all converge here and fulfill our destine."

"There was once a man on our world who thought it was his destiny to lead the world to prosperity. His name was fire lord Sozin. And his quest for destiny led to the destruction of my people, the air nation, and a war that lasted a hundred years. If that means anything it's that sometimes destiny isn't always what we think it is."

Leoben just looked away. "Why are children born Aang?" He said.

Aang looked at him confused. "I don't know. So they can continue the species. So the can pass knowledge from one generation to the next?"

"True but more than that, they are born to replace there parents. And in order for them to reach there full potential there parents have to die. In order for the cylons to reach our potential our parents had to die. Surly you of all people should know that Avatar Aang, last of the air nomads."

What the Leoben said hit Aang hard in the gut. As he thought about it more he begain to see a connection. He never even knew his parents before the air nomads were killed by the fire nation. Katara and Sokka had lost there mother in the war. Toph was for a long time cut off from her parents. And Zuko's mother was long gone. It seemed all the friends and people he knew closely had suffered events that led to them being lost from there parents and family. And yet they all had come so far.

Aang was now a fully trained avatar having just defeated the fire lord a week ago where he learned the art of energy bending, or the ability to take someone's bending away. Sokka was now one of his greatest friends, and the bravest man he had ever meet. As well as the funniest. Katara was the most beautiful woman he knew and loved. and probably one of the most powerful water benders on earth. Toph was without question the greatest earth bender having mastered the ability to bend metal despite being compleatly blind. And Zuko was the most honorable man he could ever meet, having given up they ways of his father who wanted to take over the world, and was now leader of the fire nation. In a scary way, what if Leoben was right? What if children sometimes had to be cut off from there parents so they could unlock there full potential?

Before Aang could say anything more, Natalie walked into the room.

"Leoben. There's an unidentified ship outside."

"Is it colonial?" He asked as he got up from the floor.

"We think so. We are receiving the transponder frequency from your brother. It looks like he succeeded in his mission."

. . .

Aang was about to meet humans from beyond earth for the first time. Aang was standing in another large room with Huru, Natalie, and several other cylons. The room was similar to the baseship control room, but this room was not as brightly lit, and had a large silver door at one end that was now opening. Outside the door was a massive room that was bigger than any room he had ever seen in his life. Even the throne room of the earth king dwarfed in comparison. The cylons said something about the large room being there ships "hanger deck", whatever that was.

As the door opened, two cylon centurions were pushing a small craft into the smaller room. The craft reminded Aang of the flying machines that attacked Ba Sing Sa. But this machine was different. Unlike the cylon airships which seemed silver and streamline. This ship was very boxy looking. It also had a copper tint to its hull with a bulging glass window in the front. The whole thing was unappealing to Aang and looked to him like a large bird without wings and two tails. As the craft came to a stop, a small door opened on the side and five people stepped out.

The first of the figures was a young woman with long blond hair. She was wearing a black vest and sleeveless black shirt. She also had the tattoo of a bird wing on her left shoulder. Fallowing her was the Leoben who had left the ship. He looked like he had taken a beating. There was dried blood coming out of his nose and his face was covered in cuts and bruises. After him came a tall, buff man with short hair. He was carrying some sort of small weapon in his right arm that reminded Aang of a crossbow without the bow. As Aang looked at the mans face he began to feel like he had seen this man before. He couldn't understand where he would have seen him. But he was positive that somewhere, a long time ago, he had seen him before.

He decided to put the though of it out of his mind for now as he noticed a tattoo of a bird wing on the mans right shoulder that looked exactly like the one on the woman's left arm. When the two of them stood side by side it almost looked like there two tattoos formed the shape of a complete bird. Aang wondered if this was meant to symbolize something between these two people. He didn't have much time to think about this because the last two people walked out. One was a young woman with very short, jet black hair. But what drew Aangs attention more was the last woman. If Aang didn't know any better then he could swear it was another number eight cylon. She looked just like all the other eights he had see. All that was different was the fact that she was wearing a strange uniform. As the woman was stepping out onto the floor, one of the rebel eight cylons abruptly walked up to the woman.

"So, they call you Athena now. You even where the uniform like your one of them." The eight said.

"What does it matter to you anyways!" The woman named Athena said.

"You were the first to say no."

"No to what?"

"The whole plan. You joined the humans, you fell in love with one of them, you had a child. In a way your the reason we're all here."

"How so?"

"Why, you were the one who inspired us eights to rebel with the others. You showed us that we don't have to be slaves to our programming."

"Ok, enough with the family reunion, we have more important things to do." Natalie said from the cylon side of the room. She turned to the Leoben with the humans. "Are you ok."

The Leoben just grinned "yay, never better."

Natalie turned to the young blond woman. "I understand that your people have decided to offer us help?" She said.

The blond woman nodded. "We've agreed to form an alliance with your people, but under one extra condition." Natalie was shocked to hear this. "Another condition?!"

She turned to Leoben. "What is she talking about? What's going on?!"

Leoben walked up to her. "I made a deal with them, Natalie. They offer us sanctuary in there fleet, and we let Kara Thrace here see our hybrid so that it can tell her were earth is.

Natalie looked like she was going to strangle him. "Are you insane?! Your going to give her direct access to the central core of this ship.

"I've said this before Natalie! Kara Thrace is destined to led us to earth. Something that we really need now that we no longer have the coordinates."

Natalie just glared at him. "We only agreed on an alliance!"

"If your people want an alliance then let me see the hybrid." The blond woman said.

"Um, you guys. What's with the weird tattoo kid." The tall man said as he pointed at Aang. Immediately everyone turned to stare at Aang. After several intense seconds, Natalie spoke. "That's one of the humans from earth. One of four that came with us."

"Ya" Aang said to him waving. "I'm the avatar."

"Ok, so we have avatar tattoo head and mustache face over there. Were are the other two?" The man said sarcastically.

"Your referring to mis. Brunet perfect and mis. nuclear anger management." Natalie said." one of them was mortally wounded during the ambush, the other is still locked up. And trust me, you don't want to release her. She is extremely crazy.

"Extremely crazy, good. Because the last thing you need is a crazy human lose on you ship." The man said with a chuckle.

Natalie was not impressed by the joke and turned back to Leoben.

"We have there raptor and it's jump drive. We don't need the colonials. We should just get rid of them and fix the FTL drive ourselves with the raptor."

Aang walked over to Natalie's side. "You said you would conduct a fair deal with these people! Now you want to kill them and steal there ship!?"

"This doesn't concern you, Aang! If you or your friends don't want to be stains on the floor yourselves, I suggest you stay out of our business."

"I won't let you hurt these people!" Aang yelled as he took a defensive stance.

"You Frakking tosters! Your all the same, aren't you. Ready to backstab the first person to come along." The short haired woman said.

"Barolay, just shut up!" The blond woman named Kara said to her comrade. She turned back to Natalie. "You don't have time to figure out our jump systems. Not before the other cylons get back."

Leoben turned to Natalie to. "And if we could figure it out in time, what would we do? Just keep running? How long would it take for us to run out of fuel, ammunition, supplies. How long until cavils ships find us and kill us all. Like it or not, we need help from the colonials. That means we need to let let Kara see the hybrid."

"Or you cylons can kiss earth goodby."

Natalie and Kara just glared at each other before Natalie finally gave in. "I guess we have no choice. We'll let you see the hybrid. After we repair the FTL system."

. . .

Aang was standing in the control room again. Huru had gone exploring the ships many winding corridors, leaving Aang with the cylons and the humans. Among them was the woman named Kara, Leoben, Natalie, and the cylon eight that was with the colonials. But everyone called her Athena. He guessed that this cylon had rebelled from the others a long time ago for reasons she would not say. She was standing over one of the strange basins of liquid with her hand in it. Her eyes were closed as if she was concentrating. Aang walked over to one of the Leobens.

"What is she doing?" Aang whispered.

"We cylons have an ability to communicate with our ship. We use this ability to control the ship functions and give instructions to the hybrid who carries out those instructions."

"Ok, but what's the hybrid? Natalie said something about it being the central core of your ship. But what does that mean exactly?"

"When Kara and I go visit it, you can come and see for yourself."

Aang wanted to ask more but then Athena finished what she was doing. Kara looked at her. "So, what's the damage and can we fix it?"

"It looks like there FTL spin-sinc generator is a lost cause. And their hybrids jump control systems are screwed for now." Athena said. "But the good news is that we can still use parts from the raptor to replace the damaged components. Then we can link the FTL computer from the raptor to the baseship systems to calculate the jump to the fleet. But we're going to need to pull the hybrid offline so we can execute jumps from the raptor."

Natalie was not pleased with what Athena said. "Pull the hybrid offline?! Absolutely not! We've never done it on an operational ship! The process could kill her!"

"Listen, We have a very small amount of time to get your jump drive working or we will be stuck out here for good." Kara said.

Athena began to point people out. She pointed to The short haired woman and one of the sixes first. "Barolay, six. Go to the raptor and pull the FTL data cabling and plug it into the command interface. Sam, you know first aid right?"

"Yay, a little bit. I learned it back in the resistance on caprica."

"Good, go with the eights and help them with any of their wounded. Especially the girl from earth they were talking about."

Athena turned back to Natalie. "Six, you and I can work on the FTL sinc-generator using some of the raptor components. If you can take me to your drive system I can help identify what we need to scrap and replace. Kid want to help?" She said to Huru.

"Sure." He said enthusiastically. Eager for something to do.

"What can I do?" Aang said, raising his hand.

Athena looked at him deciding what to say. "What was your name kid?"

"It's Aang."

"Ok Aang. You go with Samuel and give him some assistance. Do exactly as he tells you. Understood?"

Aang gave a nod. He fallowed the tall man and the eights through several hallways to the room were Katara was kept. There were two injured cylons in the room with her. Sam went to Katara first. He was holding a bag containing equipment. As he was getting started, one of the eights walked up to Aang holding a number of familiar items.

"Avatar, here are some of you and your friends personal positions." She handed Aang a long wooden staff.

"My glider!" Aang said.

"And here are some other items."

Aang looked up to see the cylon holding a large water pouch in one hand and a necklace in the other. "Kataras water pouch and her necklace." He said as he grabbed the two items.

"We confiscated them from you and your friends when you were brought aboard."

"Thank you for returning them." Aang said with a smile. "I can give these back to Katara when she wakes up."

"If she wakes up." Sam said bluntly.

"What are you talking about?" Aang asked.

Sam was finish examining Kataras condition. "We, I'm no doctor, but if we don't get this girl to a real doctor right now she's going to die."

Aang became desperate. "But can't you do anything!?"

"I told you I'm not a doctor! just know some first aid!" Sam said.

"When we get to you fleet, your doctors can heal her right?" One of the eights said.

But Sam just shook his head. "I think it's to late. She's to far gone."

Aang clenched his fists. "There has to be a way! Wait!" He said as an idea came to mind. He opened Kataras pouch and use water bending to empty the contents into the air. Sam was so shocked that he pulled out his weapon. "What the hell is this?!" He said.

One of the eights answered. "I guess we forgot to tell you. The people of earth can bend four of the elements to there will."

"No kidding." Sam said as he put his weapon away still looking wide eyed at the floating ball of water.

Aang bent the water so it covered his hands and approached Katara. He looked at the others. "Just to be clear you guys, I have never done this before so I don't know if it will work or not."

He put his hands on ether side of her head and closed his eyes to concentrate. Instantly the water began to glow for a few seconds before dying down. Aang removed the water and waited. Soon Kataras head began to stir and her eyes slowly opened.

"Aang, is that you?" She said weakly.

Aang couldn't help but grin. "Yes it's me"

"Unbelievable." Sam said "you healed her. How is that possible."

"I just used the water." Aang said before turning to the other wounded cylons and healed them to. They all got up and saw that there wasn't so much as a scratch left on there bodies.

"Thank you avatar." A Leoben said after seeing that he was without injury.

But before Aang could accept any of their thanks everyone heard a loud scream from the hallway.

"It sounds like it came from the flight deck." One of the eights said.

Aang didn't hesitate. He, Samuel, and one of the Sharon's ran out of the room and down the long hallways. They ran until they reached the room where the human ship was being kept. Next to it were two figures. The young short haired woman named Barolay and the blond six. Barolay was clutching her nose as blood poured out of it.

"Ab ok, ab ok." She said through the blood before she collapsed to the ground. Sam rushed to her side.

"Barolay, Barolay talk to me." But there wasn't any movement. Not even breathing. From his line of sight Aang could see that her nose was crushed into her scull as if some violent impact had smashed it. Everyone's eyes fell on the blond six. She stared back with a blank look on her face.

"You killed her. Didn't you." Sam said. His voice laced with anger. The six didn't answer.

"You Frakking killed her!" He yelled as he ran towards her. In seconds she was on the ground and Sam was standing over her with his weapon pointed at her head. Soon others heard the noise and ran into the room. Athena came into the room first. When she saw Barolay she turned to the other eight and pulled out her own weapon. Aang tool a fighting stance with his staff. Soon after Starbuck, Natalie, and Huru came rushing in.

"What happened! Sam, what are you doing?! put your gun down!" Starbuck yelled.

"No Frakking way! She just killed Barolay!" Sam yelled. His face red with rage.

"Sam, put it down! This isn't the way to handle this!"

"What do you want me to do Kara?! You want me to forget about Barolay, or about new Caprica or the Twelve Colonies?!"

Aang interrupted. "Sir, please put your weapon down. You don't have to do this." His words didn't seem to help.

"Shut up! What would a kid from earth know of the cylons! How can you possibly know the living hell these things... these machines put us through these past four years! How could you know!" Sam screamed.

"The kids right though Sam. Killing her isn't going to bring back Barolay. It isn't going to bring back everyone who died on New caprica. And it certainly won't bring back the Twelve Colonies." Starbuck said.

Then Athena spoke from behind Aang. "So this is what it's come to? They kill one of us and your just going to let it slide?" She said.

"Athena's right, we can't let this go Kara." Sam said. "If you doing want to do this than I will."

Then Natalie walked past Starbuck and up to the blond six. "Why sister? Why did you do it?" She said.

"I couldn't help it. I just couldn't get her face out of my head. Not after they way she killed me on new Caprica." The six said whimpering.

"She was the one!?" Natalie said shocked.

"I can still see her face. I can still remember as she put tape over my mouth and pushed me into that septic tank. All I could do was scream as she watched me drown. Only to be downloaded again." The six looked up to her twin. Tears were streaming from her eyes already. "We just wanted to help these people."

"I know. I wish there was something I could do to help." Natalie said.

"Then I'm glad it's you."

Natalie smiled. The she leaned down and kissed the other six on the lips. Aang was quite surprised to see two woman who looked exactly the same kissing. But before he could process the idea, Natalie stood back up and put her had over the hand Sam was using to hold his weapon.

Before Aang, Starbuck, Huru, Sam, or Athena could react Natalie squeezed Sam's hand thus pulling the trigger of the weapon. There was a loud bang fallowed by a thud as the dead body of the cylon fell to the floor with a bloody hole in her head. Sam was so shocked he pulled his weapon from Natalie's hand and pointed it at her, his eyes filled with horror. The others did the same.

"Gods dam it!" He said.

"What was that for! You didn't have to kill her!" Aang said to Natalie. His heart was racing now.

"Yes I did Aang." She said calmly. Then she turned to Sam.

"No resurrection hub. You understand. She's just as dead as your friend."

Then Natalie faced Starbuck. "That enough human justice for you? Blood for blood?"

Natalie turned and walked out of the room leaving everyone frozen on the spot. All Aang could think was _"what kind of world have I gotten myself into?"_


	7. Chapter 6 hybrid

Chapter 6: hybrid

Aang fallowed Kara and Leoben through several winding hallway until they came to a dimly lit room. It was completely empty save for a large tank of water at the center that was built into the floor with a strange glow coming from the bottom. In the tank was the figure of a young woman. As they got closer Aang began to her the woman speaking.

_"Thus shall the maidens rejoice and dance. Not because it wishes harm. But because it likes violent vibrations to change constantly. Section seven restored and pressurized. The human element of the one called savor shall make its mark on the universe. Core updated complete."_

Kara walked right next to the tank. "Ok, I'm here. If you have anything to say I'll hear you out. I kind of need your help with something." She said to the woman in the tank.

But instead of answering the woman just continued with her incoherent words. '' the children of the one reborn shall find there own country. and it shall be a grand republic that will spread its wings to the stars. information bleed is inevitable with multiple generations. they will start growing ripe on us soon. FTL sinc generator remans damaged.''

"Who was that woman before she was your Hybrid? And why does she talk like that?" Aang asked Leoben.

''that woman has always been the hybrid. her sole purpose and design is to control the ship. her speech is the result of the universe being reveled to her through the power of the ship.''

"Like an oracle?"

"Yes, like an oracle." Leoben said.

the three of them stood there waiting for twenty minutes listening to the hybrid. what they were listening for though, Aang could only guess.

_"The expedition of the lotus reveled the true nature of the cycle. Weapon systems at 72% power and rising."_

_"Across the universe they ran. Searching for their brothers and sisters. And the circle was finally complete. No ceremonies are necessary." _

_"The intruders swarm like flame. Hopes shoring to slaughter all their best against our hulls. The people devour the land. The land devours the city."_

_"And when they failed, the fifth returned home. Helpless and alone. All that has come before shall come again. The light of the universe renders the wake of the ships to nothingness."_

_''The destines of those who converge over blue and white skies shall be complete. section 31 restored to full power.'' _

''I don't understand'' kara said to herself.

Leoben walked up to her. "Just be patent. Don't expect the fate of three civilizations to be delivered easily."

As the hybrid began talking again; Athena, the other eights, Natalie, and Huru walked in. Huru ran to Aangs side.

''were ready to jump with the Demetrius. Their FTL is fully operational. Has she said anything you could make out?'' Athena said to Starbuck who was still staring at the hybrid.

''nothing, not one dam thing''

_''but you are a spark of gods fire. atmospheric levels stable.''_

''frak it! Unpluge the thing so we can get the hell out of here.'' as Starbuck sat up the hybrid reached out its hand and grabbed Starbucks arm. everyone in the room reacted in shock. Athena grabbed her strange weapon and pointed it at the hybrid. but Starbuck just slowly sat back down and leaned toward the hybrid as it spoke its final words.

"_Thus will it come to pass, a dying leader shall know the truth of the opera house. The missing model three and the five shall reveal the final five, who have come from the home of the 13th. You is the harbinger of death Kara Thrace."_

Suddenly the hybrid turned from Kara to Aang.

_"Avatar Aang. You know of the child born from man and cylon. For he will help lead us to the end. You are not alone in the universe. End of line."_

As the hybrid finished speaking, one of the eights leaned down and removed a floor panel beneath her feet. Under the panel was a network of glowing wires and tubes. she grabbed the largest set of wires and pulled them apart. Immediately the lights on the wall went out, plunging the room into darkness.

. . .

Outside, in two flashes of light, the cylon basestar and the sewage ship Demetrius disappeared into the darkness of space.

. . .

Admiral William Adama was standing in the CIC of the last colonial Battlestar, Galactica. Four years ago, this ship was one of two military vessels to escape the cylon surprise attack on the twelve colonies of Kobal. With it was a ragtag fleet of civilian ships that had also escaped the destruction of their civilization. Since then, the fleet had been through hell and back. From finding the lost planet of Kobal, the original home of the twelve colonies thousands of years ago, to finding the Battlestar Pegasus, to the destruction of a cylon resurrection ship, and the developing of the colony of new caprica only to be captured by the cylons. The battle of new caprica that resulted in the destruction of Pegasus but the freedom of the colonial fleet. And now the search for earth, home of the lost tribe of humanity. Said to have left Kobal thousands of years ago on there own to start their own world.

The latest step in the search for earth came with the reincarnation of Kara Thrace who supposedly died four months ago only to come back from the dead two months later clamming to have been to earth. Everyone had believed she was a cylon infiltrator. But Adama could tell that even if she was a cylon, she would never rest until she found earth again. So he gave her a ship, a crew, and two months to find what she was looking for and come back.

But two months had past and she hadn't come back. The old worn out commander looked up at the clock on the computer screen once again for the seventh time today. The clock read how long until Starbuck was scheduled to return. It read- 00:00:04:57. Only four minutes. Knowing Starbuck, she would probably use up every second she had and then some if she had to. Adama knew that he couldn't wait for very long after the clock ran out. He had already risked the lives of the whole fleet for Starbuck a long time ago. He couldn't do it again. Even if he really wanted to wait.

"Sir, should I order the civvies to prepare to jump to the next location." Colonel Tigh said from next to him.

"Not yet. Starbuck still has some time. Let her use it." The Admiral said to his XO and closest friend.

As the Tigh walk over to another part of the control center, there was a small beep from the ships dratis scanner. Then the communications officer called out. "Dratis contact! Cylon basestar! Bering 238 mark 445 at 12 MSU!

And thus the routine began. The Admiral called out the orders. "Action stations! Set condition one throughout the fleet! Launch alert vipers and power up the main guns!"

All over the command center, people at there stations were relaying the admirals orders to were they needed to go. Everyone knew what to do. They had done it so many times before.

"Gods damn thing is right on top of our fleet!" The XO said as he looked at the maker that represented the baseship on the dratis screen. But suddenly, another dot appeared on the screen.

"Another dratis contact sir! It's the Demetrius."

The Admiral looked at the communications officer to confirm what he heard. The officer just nodded to show that he was right.

"Sir, the Demetrius is transmitting a message to all ships." He said

"Put the message on speakers." Adama ordered.

The communication officer flipped a small switch on his computer and soon the voice of captain Agathon was heard over the ship loudspeakers.

_"Demetrius to all colonial vessels, stand down. Cylon basestar is disarmed and under colonial command. I repeat, the cylon baseship is a friendly."_

Adama picked up the large cord phone from the central desk to speak directly to the Demetrius. "Demetrius, Galactica actual. Authenticate."

Helos voice responded. "_Galactica, Demetrius. I authenticate, bravo-tango-four. Hold your fire, Starbuck and Athena are in command of the basestar."_

The Admiral breathed a shy of relief before answering. "Captan, do me a favor and patch me through to the baseship. I want to speak to Starbuck."

"Very well, just give us a minute." Helos voice vanished for several second before returning. "_Go ahead, admiral. She can hear you now."_

Adama spoke into the phone. This time talking directly to Starbuck. "This is Galactica actual. Starbuck, what do you hear?"

The was only static for a second or two, but then Kara Thrace's voice came up. _"Nothing but the rain."_

"Good, grab your gun and bring the cat in."

_"Yes sir, boom, boom, boom." _


	8. Chapter 7 guess what's coming to dinner

**Finally! Aang gets to meet the Galactica crew! Sorry it took so long. I have been busy working over the summer. I promise to bring the rest of the Gaang into the story in the next chapter and hopefully this fanfic can get some forward momentum. Once again I don't own the avatar, last Airbender or Battlestar Galactica. **

**Chapter 7: guess what's coming to dinner**

Within five minutes of the basestars' arrival, dozens of colonial raptors had launched from the Galactica and surrounded the cylon ship. Within ten minutes, the raptors had docked with the ship and colonial marines we swarming every inch of space on the baseship. Before long Avatar Aang found himself siting in the back of a raptor with Huru, Starbuck, Athena, and Natalie. The ship made its way out of a large door in the ships part metal, part flesh like hanger. When the raptor cleared the ship, Aang was awestruck at what he saw outside.

It looked like the night sky was everywhere. Even looking down through the window, all Aang could see was stars and blackness. As the sky ship came around to the right, Aang finally had a clear view of the cylon ship he had spent a week on. The ship was large, bigger than the fire nation airships back home. The whole thing looked like a silver and grey starfish. It was made of two Y shaped hull sections facing the opposite direction. They were connected together on there axis by a short, wide tower with lights all over it. As Aang took a closer look, he noticed that at least two of the arms were broken off completely. There we also burn marks and holes all over the armor. He presumed it was damage taken from the ambush. As the raptor passed the basestar, Aang could see a cluster of objects in the distance.

At first he couldn't make out what they were, but before long he began to see details from some of the shapes. One was long and skinny with a large ring surrounding it's mid section. Another was long with large green domes covering it. Another one looked like three saucers connected together with a box like section in the back. But as they got closer, Aang could make out a ship larger than the others that they were getting closer to. It was enormous. More so than the cylon ship. It had a large bow section and two long pods on ether side of its midsection. There were six engine like structures that shot blue flames out the back. Aang tapped the shoulder of the pilot it the front.

"Excuse me, but that ship we're headed for. What is it?"

"Well kid, that would be none other than the Battlestar Galactica."

. . .

It didn't take long for the raptor to board the ship known as Galactica. As soon as they landed inside one of the two large pods on the side, they were all escorted to a large meaning room deep in the ship. Before long they were joined by several people who sat at a large table in the center of the room. The first one was a older tall, bald man with an eye patch on his right eye. The next was another older man who was a lot shorter but had an aura of supremacy that outweighed everyone. Next was an middle aged woman with long brownish red hair who sat next to the second man. The final person was a very young woman with long curly black hair who didn't take a seat at the large table, but instead sat in the corner and pulled out a pad of paper and a writing utensil. Oddly enough, as Aang looked closer at her and the man with the eyepatch, he began to feel as if he'd seen the both of them before. The feeling was similar to when he met the man named Sam Anders back at the baseship. But before his train of though could continue the short old man sat up and addressed Natalie in a deep scratchy voice.

"I've been told that your people have found earth, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"Well then, it would please all of use if you tell us how you did that."

"Actually, it was completely by accident. Many of us even believed it was a miracle from god. One of our raider patrols was scouting a system for fuel sources when they detected the oxygen property's of the third planets atmosphere. When further analysis indicated human life on the planet we knew that we had found the 13th tribe. Within two days we moved our fleet over the planet and captured it."

"So what went wrong?"

"After we found the planet, it wasn't long before our people began to realize the gravity of certain events. The standoff at the algae planet, the battle at the nebula, and the discovery of earth! We felt it pointed to one path. And that our destiny lies in seeking out the cylon models known as the final five. We soon became divided according to models. Our models vs the ones, fours and fives who were violently apposed to our wishes. So in response they tried to eradicate us."

The short man stood to his full hight. "I'm going to be blunt about this. If you want assistance, we will offer it, but in exchange I want you to give us the coordinates to earth immediately."

Natalie's head dropped. "I'm afraid we can't do that. Our computers were damaged when the other cylons ambushed us. The coordinates to earth were lost."

"Then why did you come here? What do you have to offer?"

Natalie hesitated before answering. "We believe that the final five that we seek know the location of earth. All we need to do is rescue the model threes known as the Diannas."

"Rescue? What do you mean, what happened to them?"

Athena answered. "The threes were boxed after the battle at the Algae planet."

"Boxed?" The bald man with the eye patch said.

"Her entire line was deactivated and put into cold storage in a boxing facility." Natalie said.

"Why?" The short man asked.

"Dianna had a vision of the final five back on the algae planet which was forbidden. But if we unbox her, she can reveal their identities to us."

Starbuck spoke from the other side of the room. "If the five really have been to earth and we help find them, then the might take us there."

"That's not all." Dianna continued. "The boxing facility is located inside our primary resurrection hub. This hub controls the functions of all cylon resurrection ships. we can take you to the hub and let you destroy it. You destroy the hub, the cylons will lose their ability to download into new body's. All of us. Forever."

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Why would you help us destroy your ability to resurrect?" The older woman asked.

"We're rebels. We can't go back. All that maters to us is being with the five.''

''and what about earth.'' the short man asked. ''even if we do find it, how do we deal with the cylon forces in control of it?''

''we can help you with that. our baseship is equipped with a massive nuclear arsenal, but most of our raiders were destroyed in the ambush, so without you we lack a delivery system for the weapons.'' Natalie said. ''but in return we want a place on earth to call our own.''

the man hesitated before nodding. much to the shock of the others.

The older woman interrupted. "something I've been meaning to ask. You say your people captured the 13th tribe. What I want to know is why? The 13th tribe, the last human civilization in the universe, was given to you on a silver plater and you just captured it. Why didn't you just destroy it?"

Natalie looked and Aang and then back at the woman. "That's why we brought one of the inhabitants to your ship. There's something about them that you need to see. Aang? Would you do the honers."

Aang nodded and turned to the people at the desk. "This is going to sound weird but I need some dirt."

"Dirt?" The old short man said.

"There's a potted plant on that back desk." The younger woman who was righting stuff down said.

"That will do." Aang said. He reached out his hand to the plant in the corner. It slowly began to raise up out of the pot. Soon the plant and the dirt that held its roots together was floating above their heads in the center of the room. The four grow ups at the desk, as well as Starbuck and Athena, looked completely bewildered.

"What the frak is this!? The plant is floating!" The man with the eye patch yelled out loud.

"It's ok, it's just earth bending." Aang said trying to calm the people down. But it wasn't working.

"Just earth bending! That dam plant is FLOATING!" The man with the eye patch repeated.

"Ok! Ok. I'll stop." Aang said as he put the plant back were it belonged.

"Here. I can show you my water and firebending." He said.

In seconds Aang took the water from a glass refreshment container on the desk and bent it into the air in a classic swirly formation in the air before Setting it down into its container. Then with a snap of his fingers, a bright flame appeared in his right palm. The jaws of several people in the room fell to the floor.

"How about something less nerve racking." Aang said in an attempt to contain the situation. With a fluid motion of his hands he created an air ball and sat on it. Thus forming his famous air 'scooter'. The people at the desk continued to stair at Aang who was now floating on a ball of spinning air. Despite his desire too be calm he couldn't help but began to ride around the room, and the desks laughing with joy. For the first time in over a week Aang felt happy. The feeling of freedom and the air in his face was enough to release the tension from the last few days. But as he came to a stop, he could see that the adults still had shocked looks on there faces. Then Natalie spoke again.

"Earth as you know it is consisted of four nations. Water, earth, fire, and air. Specific citizens of each nation can bend the element of their nation. This child." Natalie pointed at Aang. "Is the only one who can bend all elements at the same time. There people call him the avatar."

"How is all of this relevant?"

"Because the other cylons seek to discover how this power works in order to integrate it into themselves to make themselves better machines. And when that happens they will have no more use of the planet and they will destroy it. In other words Admiral, we have a time limit."

The short man looked to the others before continuing. "Then give us the coordinates to the hub.''

''No, I said we would take you there.''

''get them out of here, we're finished!''

at his words the guards in the back restrained Natalie, Aang, and Huru.

''wait! please, we need your help to get home!'' Aang yelled as he was forced out he door.

''He's right, your making a mistake!'' Huru said.

''is your word good admiral?!'' Natalie said as she to was being forced outside. ''I'll give you the coordinates but I want your word.''

''stand down.'' the admiral said to the solders. they released Aang, Natalie, and Huru. ''you have my word.''

''once we find the final five in your fleet, and we defeat cavils forces, we'll be free to find our own home with the five?''

everyones face turned to shock again at her last sentence. Natalie looked at all of them.

''yes, the final five are in your fleet. Thats why our raiders turned back there attack at the nebula.''

. . .

After Natalie, Aang, and Huru were lead out of the room, Admiral Adama, Colonel Tigh, and president Roslin were talking to each other.

"It's incredible. I mean they really found earth." Roslin said.

"Don't tell me you believe that mumbo-jumbo." Tigh said.

"Why not? You saw for yourself what that kid could do." Adama stated.

"If you ask me that whole thing was some kind of cylon trick. No Frakking way they found earth! And no way that kid can really bend elements! You would be a fool to believe them admiral!"

"Colonel!" Adama said sharply. "Need I remind you that four years ago we didn't know that the cylons looked like us or that earth was real. It is very possible that they are telling the truth."

"The truth. But how can we know for sure?" Roslin said.

"First things first, we should send a raptor patrol out to the coordinates that the cylons gave us. If resurrection is there than we know their telling the truth."

"I'll get right on it." Tigh said as walked out of the room. But before he closed the door he stopped and turned to face the Admiral.

"Bill. I just wanted to say... I'm sorry for snapping the way I did, I shouldn't have done that to you."

Adama stared at Tigh for a a second before giving a "thank you." of approval as he watched his old friend finally walk out the door.

. . .

In Galacticas' infirmary, Dr. Sherman Cottle was helping the nurses carry the injured Mr. Geta to an empty bead. Once there they began Seting up a number of medical instruments as the doc looked at Mr. Getas leg in despair.

"Ok, we need to get a cut down table here right now!"

. . .

Aang and Huru were escorted to a cabin with bunks for them to sleep. Huru lay down in one of the bunks and started to fall asleep. Aang tried to sleep too but couldn't. The reality of the past couple of weeks was finally coming together. They were far away from home, on spaceships full of strange people (and machines) and they were now caught in a new conflict involving a sister race of humans. The entire thought of it was unsettling to Aang and made sleeping impossible for him. To calm his mind, Aang decided to meditate on the floor.

After about ten seconds, Aang began to feel something. It came from within him and was growing stronger. Seconds later the illuminated form of Avatar Roku ,the avatar before Aang, materialized in front of him.

"Aang, it's good to see you again!"

"It's good to see you too Roku." Aang said with a smile. But his smile soon faded.

"It seems that my guidance is needed yet again." Roku said, noticing Aangs expression.

"Avatar Roku, I... I don't how to explain the past few weeks." Aang said before Roku interrupted.

"There is no need Aang. As one of your past lives your memory's are my memory's. I already know about the cylons and the humans from another world. Just tell me what you need help with."

"Well it's just that this place is so different. We're so far from home and the only way to get to earth is for these rebel cylons and humans to form an alliance. But the rifts between these people is huge. They hate each other so much and I don't know how they can ever work together." Aang said.

"Avatar Aang. As you already know, hate can be a result of suffering and pain. To understand the source of these peoples pain you should try to find their spiritual center."

"Spiritual center?" Aang asked. "What do you mean."

"Find the most spiritual place you can, and there you will find your answers."

"But Roku, this entire ship is artificial. It's made of metal. I thought spiritual places could only exist in nature."

"Aang, as you know the element of metal is nothing more than refined earth. Spiritual places could exist here just as much as they could exist on earth. You can find that connection."

"But where would I even start?"

"You will know were to look Aang." And with that, Rokus spirit disappeared.

Aang sat on the floor for a moment thinking. He looked over at Huru who was asleep. "I'll be right back Huru. There's something I go to do."

Aang walked to the door, slowly opened it, and peeked outside. He could see two guards outside on ether side of the door wearing their strange uniforms and black helmets. Aang grinned and with a swirl of his hand he created an air current that flipped the back of their helmets over there faces. As they struggled to put their helmets back on right, Aang slipped out the door and down the hallway.

. . .

Deep in a blue nebula, pilots 'Racetrack' and 'Sculls' we're siting in there raptor looking in awe at three giant silver craft nuzzled in the clouds. Two of them were cylon baseships. The third was a much larger structure with three arms extending from a glass and metal midsection. The resurrection hub.

"Lords of Kobal, shield your eyes." Racetrack said. "Get it with the gun camera. Full magnification."

Sculls started taking the pictures of the structure. "Kinda pretty isn't it." He said

"Tell it to the fleet." She scolded. Several seconds later, the raptor blinked out of existence as it jumped away.

. . .

In Galacticas' infirmary, doc Cottle was prepping to remove Mr. Getas leg while the nurses were about to place a mask over Getas face.

"No! No, please don't put me under. Just num everything." He whimpered.

"Felix?"

"Please, I don't want to walk up with my leg gone."

"Ok then." The doctor said.

He took the surgical saw and activated it, creating a high pitched noise. Felix Getas eyes widened in terror as the doctor began cutting into his flesh.

. . .

Aang was walking through the hallways of Galactica earning several strange looks from people at his tattoos. After several minutes he felt what he was looking for. A spiritual presence. He fallowed it through several more hallways before coming to a hallway that looked different from the others. All along the walls were hundreds of detailed pictures of people; young, old, men, women, and children. Some with lit candles next to them. The spiritual presence was strongest here.

"Is this were you wanted me to go Roku?" Aang asked himself.

He walked up to one of the pictures. It was of a small family of three. a father, a mother, and a little boy. Unknowingly, Aangs hand reached up and touched the corner. Suddenly, when Aang looked around, he wasn't in the hallway anymore. He was outside on a concrete pathway next to a black paved street. Strange four wheeled vehicles were driving on the road. Crowds of people were going along there daily lives. As Aang looked up he saw a large cluster of tall buildings that towered over the streets with the light of the sun reflecting off there glass surfaces. It was unlike anything he had ever seen.

As he absorb his surroundings, there was a brilliant flash of light several miles away in the center of the vast city. It was so bright, Aang had to cover his eyes and look away to a avoid getting blinded. The air around him stared to heat up as the light died down and a deep roaring noise filled his ears. Then he saw a fast moving shockwave of air and dust rushing towards him.

Before it hit, the whole scene changed. Now he was in space looking down on the surface of a planet far below. There was a fleet of baseship hovering over the planet to. He could see multiple flashes of light on the surface of the planet, each one growing into giant dark mushroom clouds of fire. Then a voice filled his ears. He recognized it as the voice of the cylon hybrid.

_"The makers of the makers fall before the child. Accessing defense system. Handshake, handshake. Second level clear."_

_"Accepting scan. Love outlasts death."_

_"Their ships fail. Skittering like skipped stones. Meaningless in the absence of time. What never was is never again." _

_"Progress reports arriving. The farms of Aerolon are burning. The beaches of Canceron are burning. The plains of Leonis are burning. The jungles of Scorpia are burning. The pastures of Tauron are burning. The harbors of Picon are burning. The cities of Caprica are burning. The oceans of Aquaria are burning. The courthouses of Libran are burning. The forests of Virgon are burning. The Colonies of Man lie trampled at our feet."_

The scene changed again. Now he was in Galacticas hanger bay. There was a large formation of people standing in front of what appeared to be human bodies covered in silver blankets with symbols on them. An old woman in a fancy robe was standing over them.

"With heavy hearts, we lift up their bodies to you, oh lords of Kobal. and we pray that you will give them life everlasting. We also pray that you will look down upon us now, with mercy and with love. Just as you did with our forefathers many years ago. just as you led them from our old home Kobal and found the twelve worlds, that you would lead us to a new home so that we may begin life anew. so say we all.''

''so say we all'' the crowd mumbled feebly. but then Aang saw the short old man from the meating room whom Natalie had addressed as Admiral Adama step out and looked at everyone.

''so say we all!''

''so say we all.'' the people repeated slightly louder.

''so say we all!''

''so say we all!'' they all said in unison.

''are they the lucky ones?'' the admiral asked as he pointed to the bodies. ''thats what your thinking isn't it? we're a long way from home! we've jumped way past the red line into unchartered space! limited supplies, limited fuel, no allies, and NOW no hope!? maybe it would it would have been easier if we had died quickly, back on the colonies with our families, instead of dying out here slowly in the emptiness of dark space. were shall we go? what shall we do? Life here began out there. Those are the first words of the sacred scrolls. And they make it very clear that we are not alone in the universe. Elosha, there is a 13th colony of human kind, is there not?"

"Yes, a 13th tribe left Kobal in the early days. They traveled far and made their home on a planet called earth, which circled a distant and unknown star." The old woman said.

"It's not unknown. I know were it is!" The admiral said to the crowd who lifted there heads in surprise.

"Earth, The most guarded secret we have. The location was only known by the senior commanders of the fleet. And we dared not share it with the public. Not while there was a cylon threat upon us. But for now, we have a refuge to go to! A refuge that the cylons no nothing about!''

''it wont be an easy journey, but I promise you one thing. On the memory of those lying here before you, we shall find it, and earth will become our new home."The admiral stepped back into his place in line facing the old woman.

"So say we all." He said

"So say we all." The old woman responded. The admiral turned back to the people.

"Dismissed." He said. Immediately the whole crowd began breaking out in cheering and applause.

The scene changed again. This time Aang was in a large cabin on the Galactica. Admiral Adama and the middle aged woman from the meeting room were both in there.

"There is no earth. You made it up. President Adar and I once talked about the legend of earth. He knew nothing of a secret location. And if the president of the colonies didn't know anything than what are the chances that you do?"

Adama looked up at her. "Your right. There is no earth. It's all a legend."

"Why then?"

"Because, it's not enough to just live. You need something to live for. Let it be earth."

The woman just stared at him. "They will never forgive you." She said.

"Probably, but until then I've given us all a fighting chance to survive. And isn't that what you said was most important? The survival of the human race."

. . .

The scene ended and Aang emerged from the vision. He was back in the hallways of Galactica.

"What are you doing here? A voice said from behind. Aang turned to see Starbuck standing there.

"just sight seeing. I wasn't doing anything wrong." Aang said trying to act innocent. Starbuck just raised her eyebrow at him.

"Well kid, there are a lot bet places to sight see than here." She said before reaching her hand out. "Come on. I'll walk you back to your cabin."

Aang took her hand and together they walked out of memorial hallway.


	9. Chapter 8 the great escape

**Chapter 8: the great escape**

Zuko's mother, Ursa was standing over young Zuko who was in bed. "Zuko, my love please listen to me closely. Everything I've done I did to protect you."

She gave Zuko a big hug. "Promise me Zuko that no matter how much things change, never forget who you are." With that she released Zuko from her arms and walked out of the fire nation palace for the last time. Disappearing into the dark.

**. . .**

Zuko awoke from his dream in a cold sweat. He looked around. He was laying on the metal floor of a large prison cage with bars all over. To his left was Sokka, and Suki in similar cages. He could see way at the far end was a wooden cage with Toph. She was inside a wooden box with her head sticking out of a hole at the top to prevent a metal bending escape. To his right was a single cage with the figure of a woman he didn't recognize. All were asleep at first, until, Sokka began to wake up.

"Hey Zuko. (Yawning) You having dreams to?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"It's just that I had a dream of my own."Sokka said.

"Again? Let me guess. This time you were being chased by the melon lord and his army of flesh eating shrimp."

Suddenly Sokka sat up strait and began talking very loudly.

"Actually this was a different dream! IDreamedThatTheWarWasOver, WeDefetedTheLoserLord-IMeanMelonLoard- IMeanFireLord- ButThen, JustWhenWeThoughtItWasOver, TheWorldWasInvadedByAnArmyOfMachines!- AangandKataraWereCaptured!-SoWeFormedAResistanceInTheirNameOnlyWeGotCaptured- OnA MissionInTheEarthNation!ButIWasAbleToDrink CactusJuiceSoTheyWouldn'tGetAny InformationFromMe!"

Sokka's lines were so fast and blurred together, that It took Zuko several seconds to process them.

"Sokka, that wasn't a dream. Machines did invade our world. Aang and Katara were captured. We did form a resistance movement. Then we were captured. And for reasons I can't fathom, you did think it was a good idea to drink cactus juice!" Zuko said annoyed.

"SorryZuko. ItWasTheQuenchest!" Sokka said. his mouth was moving a mile a minute.

"Will you two dunderheads be quiet! I'm trying to concentrate!" Toph yelled from her wooden prison.

"Why? What are you doing?" Zuko asked. He could hear shuffling from the box that contained the blind earth bender.

"Well, it would seem those one eyed metal freaks didn't take away my space bracelet that I made from that meteor three months ago. So I'm going to make a saw and cut my way out of here.

Soon Zuko could hear the sound of something hacking at the wooden box from the inside.

"Do me a favor Zuko. Since I still can't use metal bending to see vibrations past this wooden cell, could you watch for guards?"

Zuko checked the small entrance to the room. He couldn't see any of the large metal men that had invaded their world over a week ago.

"Over a week ago?" He thought to himself. It felt more like a month ago.

"Got it!" Toph said as the wooden box fell apart. Then Toph started sawing through the wooden bars.

"What's going on? What are you doing Toph?" Suki said as she woke up."

"We're busting out of here." Toph said.

"If you think you can escape, your wrong." A voice said from behind.

Zuko turned to see that the woman in the far cage had awakened too.

"What are you taking about? Who are you?!" Zuko said.

"My human name was once Aurora. And even if you escape your prison your still trapped on a baseship far from your home with no way off. But I can help you." She said as her face became lit. He could see that she was short and skinny with long flowing black hair and dark skin. Immediately Zuko took a fighting stance.

"Your one of them! Your what they call an eight! The resistance knows about you! Machines that look human. We've interrogated enough of you people to figure it out. Though we haven't figured out how."

"Then you should know that I am your only hope of getting out of here."

"How so?"

"Because there is a civil war going on amongst our people. I am actually part of a rebel faction of cylons. Free me and I can offer you a safe haven."

"Yay, that's very funny." Zuko said "but we don't have time for jokes."

"Actual Zuko. She isn't lying." Toph said.

By now Toph had escaped from the wooden prison.

"I can 'see' her body reactions with my metal bending just like I see everything else. She's telling the truth."

"That doesn't make any sense. Why would they go to war with each other? And why would one faction want to help us?" Zuko asked Toph.

"Because our 'faction' feels it has higher priorities than the conquest of your planet." The woman named Aurora said.

"And what would said priorities be?"

"That's not important right now. What's important is that we get out of here alive. We can only do that by working together. If you break me out of this prison and take me to the hanger I'll let you hitch a lift off the ship."

Zuko hesitated. What if it was a trap? A trap to get information from them. Or worse, to kill them. But that wouldn't make sense. A trap like this seemed ridiculously complex just to get rid of them and there were more effective ways to get information. He turned to Suki and Toph, who at that moment was metal bending Sukis cell open.

"What do you think Suki?"

"I trust whatever you think is right." She said.

Zuko turn back to Aurora, his mind finally made up. "Ok, we'll let you out. And in exchange you help us escape. But let me make one thing clear. If we go down your coming down with us. Got it?!"

Aurora nodded as Toph metal bent the bars to her cage open. After that, Toph released Zuko.

Than Toph turned to Sokkas cage. Who by now was slowly pacing around the cell with his jaw hanging open.

"Zombies don't need to learn math problems." He said. While impersonating a zombie.

"Are you sure we want to let him out?" Toph asked Zuko.

"Katara would skin us alive if she found out we left him here."

"Good point."

Toph took the bars and bent them so there was an opening for Sokka to come through.

Zuko grabbed Sokka before he could run off.

"Toph keep an eye on him."

"You mean a foot."

"Whatever."

The four of them grabbed their weapons which were surprisingly siting in the corner of the room. Zuko grabbed his broad swords while Suki retrieved her metallic battle fans. Sokka picked up his boomerang and almost tried to eat it before Suki stopped him.

The five of them left the room. The walked through several hallways being sure not to attract attention. But after no more that five minutes they ran into trouble.

"Two guards are approaching. Hide!" Toph whispered. They all took cover behind a corner.

The clank-clank-clank of the centurions feet went past them and down a different hallway.

"Cost is clear." Toph said as the group keep going. But then Sokka ran back to the hallway that the centurions had gone through and yelled out.

"YAY, YOU BETER RUN YOU HOG-MONKEYS!"

Toph, Zuko, and Suki all did face palms at Sokkas outburst. Toph ran to grab Sokkas arm as the sounds of automatic weapons fire filled the hallway.

"This way!" Aurora yelled at they all started running. But soon they ran into three more centurions who turned to fire. Toph used metal bending to rip a section of the wall off and shielded them from the deadly projectiles. Then she rolled up the sheet of metal into a ball and threw it at the centurions. All three centurions were decimated by the impact.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the blind bandit is back!" She said with glee. But her moment of triumph was interrupted by the the two centurions from earlier coming in from behind the group. Before any of them could react Sokka shouted. "It's ok you guys. I can handle them!"

"Sokka, that not a good id..." Suki started to say before Sokka grabbed his boomerang and flung it at one of the centurions. The boomerang simply bounced off the metal armor without leaving a scratch. The centurion slanted his head to the side as if confused before pointing his weapon at Sokka.

"Oh, no you don't!" Zuko said. He shot two powerful waves of fire from his broad swords. The waves hit them in the torso sending them flying to the far side of the hallway disabling them.

"We need to move now!" Aurora barked. The five of them proceeded on.

. . .

The group made it to the hanger without further encounters with guards. However now there were alarms going off throughout the ship alerting the crew of their escape.

"Ok, we've done our part of the bargain. Now it's your turn." Zuko said to Aurora.

"There!" She said pointing to a cylon heavy raider parked nearby. They all ran in through the entrance into a dark cabin. Aurora took her place at the pilot seat while Zuko sat next to her. A small panel opened to reveal a tiny window for humanoid pilots to look out. Sokka, Suki, and Toph sat in back.

"Everyone hold on to something." Aurora said as she placed her hand in the water basin that was the ships control interface. With a roar of its engines the raider took off from the deck. The hanger doors began to open under the raiders orders, but as Aurora maneuvered the ship towards the hanger doors they began to close again.

"We should find another way out." Zuko said to Aurora. But instead she simply accelerated the ship.

"We'll fit." She said.

"That opening is too small. We won't fit!" Zuko insisted.

"We'll fit. We'll fit! WE'LL FIT!" Aurora yelled as the ship increased in speed. At the last second she turned the ship onto its side to fit through the narrow space between the doors. The ship made it but not before it's top and bottom sections scrapped against the doors causing the raider to spin several times before recovering.

"Told you we'd fit." Aurora said with a smile.

"That doesn't qualify!" Toph said from the back cabin. Struggling not to release the contents of her stomach.

As they looked around Zuko released that he couldn't see earth.

"The earth. It's gone!" He said.

"The star patterns are different too. We must be in a different region of space." Aurora said.

"So were do we go form here?" Zuko asked.

But a sudden and violent THUD vibrated through the hull.

"Were under attack!" Aurora said. The raider did a 180 degree flip so it was facing the basestar it had escaped from. Between them and the massive behemoth were six cylon fighters closing in on them.

Suddenly Sokkas eyes became as big as dinner plates as he pointed out the window toward the oncoming raiders. "IT'S THE SHRIMP PEOPLE!"

Aurora opened fired the raiders six powerful KEWs each one shooting hundreds of blue tracer rounds at the fighters. One of the raiders was hit in the wing and exploded. The others broke out of formation so they weren't easy targets.

"We're going to have to fight our way out." Aurora said.

Outside the raiders were coming about for an attack run on all sides. The heavy raider turned and fired at the nearest ship. It exploded in a large fireball. She turned to the next ship and fired but it rolled out of the way. Aurora fired a missile from the heavy raiders underbelly. It fallowed the fighter until it made contact and exploded. The victory was sort lived when the sound of bullets impacting against the armor was heard. Aurora could see with the ship sensors that two raider were pursuing them. She activated the revers thrust. The ship stopped in midair as their two pursues overshot them and flew ahead. Aurora brought the ships guns to bear on the two enemy ships.

"Surprise mother frakkers."She said as the raiders guns tore the two ships apart.

"Wait! There were six of them. Were is the last one?" Zuko said with concern as he looked around.

His question was answered when the sound of bullets impacts were heard in the cabin. Then sparks started flying from the organic wiring on the roof and several lights went out.

"We've lost the engines! I'll need to preform a faster than light jump!" Aurora said. But Zuko could now see the last raider coming around to finish them.

"Whatever your going to do. Do it now!" Zuko said as the raider finished its turn.

"I got it! Jump in 5..., 4..., 3..., 2..., 1..., jump!" She yelled as the attacking raider fired its cannons. There was a flash of light as the heavy raider jumped away.

. . .

Inside the control room of the baseship, Cavil watched the whole thing. From the gangs escape from there cells, to the dogfight that took place outside.

"Are you sure that a tracking device was placed in the raider they took?" He said to a model four.

"Yes, and we're already starting to receive telemetry."

"Good. Send a pair if baseships to fallow it and see were they go."

"By your command."


	10. Chapter 9 reunions

**Hello, sorry about the delay again (Probably sound like a broken record about now.) but now that I've started college there has been less and less time for this story. Also I was working on my Star Trek/ Battlestar Galactica mashup so that left even less time for this story. Needless to say my post are going to start getting few and far between until next summer. I don't own BSG or ATLA.**

Chapter 9: reunions

Admiral Adama, President Laura Roslin, Colonel Tigh, and captan Karol Agathon were in the meeting room looking over the pictures of the resurrection hub.

"If we go in there on our own horse we won't last five minutes. But if we go in that baseship parked out there. They may not notice us for some time." Helo said.

"What do we fight with though? Their raiders are frakked." Colonel Tigh asked.

"We don't use theirs. We use ours. We take half of Galacticas viper wing."

"Half the wing?" Adama said.

"Exactly. We can sneak them in on the rebel baseship. Mr. Hoshi did some calculations from Racetracks photos. If we take out the FTL drive the hub will be stranded."

"We blow the hub and billions of skin jobs lose their bath privileges." Colonel Tigh said.

"Imagine. Once their gone they can't come back. Mortal enemies." Roslin said.

"Before we take out the hub, we'll need to get a team in there to unbox the Diannas." Hello said.

"Well what if we just don't. What if we just forget the gods dam boxing facility." Colonel Tigh suggested.

"You mean lie to the rebels." Adama responded.

"Why not, they lied to us. The skin jobs say their raiders won't fight because the final five is here? We tangled with those slit-eyed bastards for years and they never turned back before. Why now?"

"What if the cylons are telling the truth? What if the final five are here? I've already had Athena double check the cylon computers for earths coordinates. She said their story checks out. That the baseships' memory core became corrupted due to damage during the ambush. Which means the five could be our only hope of finding earth before the other cylons destroy it." Helo said.

"Even if they know the way, their not going to lead us there after we've just destroyed their resurrection capability." Roslin said.

"What if the five are different like the rebels are." Adama pointed out.

"What if their not? What if their sole purpose is to destroy us?"

"I say we just blow the whole gods dam thing to dust. Lock, stock, and barrel and trust in the presidents vision. Her scriptures, her way to earth." Tight said.

"Unfortunately I think captain Agathon is right. We may not have enough time. So here's what we can do. We help the cylons unbox Dianna, find the final five, keep the five until we find a way to retake earth then hand the five over to the cylons. They've waited this long. It will be on our terms." Roslin said. The others looked at her hesitantly.

"It's all pie in the sky until we figure out what's true and what isn't." She said.

"Ok then. The real plan stays in this room. If the plan gets leaked to the cylons all bets are off." Adama said before turning towards Agathon.

"Have someone escort the cylon leader back to her baseship so she can inform her people that they have a deal."

Colonel Tigh and captain Agathon left the room leaving Adama and Roslin.

"Something else you want to say?" Adama said as he reached into his cabinet and pulled out a bottle of alcohol and a small glass.

"No, It's just that... Well I've been looking over some of the data from earth that the cylons gave us. And their world is just so... Alien. Everything about them. Their culture, their history, their way of life. They've just invented the steam engine yet they can bend the elements to their will. It's all so different."

"Where you expecting something else?" Adama asked as he started pouring a glass of liquor.

"I don't know Bill. I guess I've never thought about it before. And when I did all I could picture was some kind of carbon copy of Caprica, Gemenon, or one of the other colonies. None of use ever stopped to consider what would happen when we got there. Or what it would be like."

"We aren't there yet, still have a long way to go, and a lot of fighting to do along the way." Adama said as he took a drink.

"But it's something we need to be prepared for. How will we coexist with these people? How do we preserve our culture and our way of life on a world that is already so different from us?"

"I wish I knew the answer to that Lora. But I'm a solder, not a politician."

"I know. It just feels better laying all my worries on your shoulder." She said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

Adama chuckled at the remark. "We'll, here's to laying our burdens onto other peoples shoulder." He said as he raised his glass before taking a sip. There was a pause between the two of them before Roslin sat up from her seat.

"Well if you don't mind, I think I shall be going now. Goodby Admiral." She said as she turned for the door. As she left the room, Adama couldn't help but notice the faint glow she gave off. Even dying from cancer, she still looked gorgeous.

. . .

Aang and Starbuck continued walking through the hallways talking amongst themselves.

"So your name is Kara Thrace right?" He said.

"Yep."

"And you fly vipers."

"Exactly."

"What are vipers?" He asked.

"You are just full of questions, aren't you."

"I'm just trying to understand your world better." Aang said

"We then, to answer your last question. Viper are basically little ships we fly around in. We use them to defend the fleet from the cylons. I happen to be the best of the best in case you were wondering."

"Could you teach me to fly one?" He asked with enthusiasm.

Kara smirked at him. "I think vipers are two sizes too large for you." She said.

"I understand. Just wondering." Aang said. The two continued walking before Kara spoke again.

"By the way, your name. Your name was Ung right?" She asked. Aangs face turned red and the sound of the mispronunciation.

"Um, no. It's pronounced Aang."

"Oh, my bad." Kara said, somewhat embarrassed herself at the mistake.

The two of them continued walking. But Aang still couldn't get the vision he had out of his mind.

"Starbuck, I was wondering. what are the lords of Kobal?" He asked.

Starbuck stopped dead in her tracks. "What? Why?"

"I've heard about them and I was wondering who they are."

Starbuck paused for a moment. "Well... Their our deities. There are twelve lords of Kobal. Each one represented one of the twelve colonies we lived on. Their our gods."

Aang was confused. "Wait. One of the cylons on the baseship said there was only one god."

"That's a cylon belief. Of corse some humans in our fleet believe in one god as well."

"Oh. I didn't know that." Aang paused for a moment.

"What do you believe in?"

Starbuck stopped dead in her tracks as if thinking about her answer.

"I honestly don't know. I mean I used to think I knew, but these past few weeks have been..." She stopped as a look of annoyance came over her.

"Why I'm I telling you this!? I just met you. Speaking of which here's your room." She said. They had indeed returned to the room Aang and Huru had been using. The two guards were still standing on ether side of the entrance. As Aang opened the door, Starbuck turned to leave.

"Wait! Could you see if you can find out about my friend. Her name is Katara and I've been worried sick about her."

Starbuck turned back. "I'll see what I can do kid. In the meantime you stay put until I come back."

Aang smiled. "Thank you."

Starbuck turned away. "With a weird name like that, finding her should be easy." She whispered to herself."

. . .

Outside in space, several flashes of light appeared around the Galactica and the basestar as the dozen or so civilian ships that had accidentally jumped away returned to the pack. Among the ships was Colonial One. A luxury liner that served as the seat of government for the fleet. At that moment the Quorum of Twelve was holding an emergency meeting on board. Standing in front of the group of people was vice president Tom Zarak who was holding a briefing paper given to him by Galacticas personnel. Reading it made him want to throw something across the tiny cabin. But he kept calm as he spoke to the quorum.

"Six days ago, cylon forces discovered the location of the 13th colony of Kobal. Two days later a rogue faction of cylons broke away from the others in an act of defense towards earth including rescuing four indigenous refuges from enemy hands. In thirty six hours, the Colonies will unite forces with said insurgent rebel cylons and their leader in an unprecedented jointed military operation to retrieve the coordinates to the planet and to destroy the cylons ability to download into... Bla bla bla." Zarak couldn't continue reading the report.

He turned towards the Caprican representative Lee Adama, son of Bill Adama. An retired viper pilot who had joined the Quorum only a few months ago.

"Why weren't we consulted?" Zarak asked.

The young Adama looked up. "I don't know. I'm being kept in the dark just as much as you are."

. . .

"I don't care if I need more rest, I want to see my friends NOW!" Katara yelled.

"Not until you've recovered from your injuries! A few hours ago you had a massive backbone injury and dying in a coma!" Doc Cottle exclaimed.

Cottle had been recalled from Galactica to assist one of the natives from earth. So far he was regretting the experience. The whole baseship felt ominous and his new patient was less than cooperative. Now he was stuck here with a model eight and model two cylon looking over his shoulder.

"Look sir, if you think there is still something wrong with me I can fix it. I have healing abilities you know. Do you have any water?" Katara asked.

The eight nodded and brought a bucket full of water.

Katara reached for it and preformed several fluid motions with her hands. Immediately, the water began to flow out of its container and into the air.

"What the hell!" Cottle said in shock at the sight of water flowing in the air.

But suddenly the water stopped and fell to the floor, splashing everywhere, as Katara held her back in pain.

"Ow! My bending! It's not working! Something about this injury must have blocked my chi!" She exclaimed.

"I think the doctor's right. You just need to rest and get your strength back." Leoben said.

"Fine." Katara said, still upset. She laid down on the bed as her thoughts drifted towards Aang and Huru. Especially Aang.

. . .

Inside one of the Galacticas hanger deck tool rooms, Samuel Anders, Tory Foster, Saul Tigh, and Galen Tyrol were meeting together. They had been meeting in secret ever since they found out that they were cylons known as the final five back at the Ionian Nebula.

"You know if they unbox the Diana's, at least we'll find out who the fifth one is." Tyrol said while examining some of the tools.

"All that's going to do is crowd the airlock some more. Do you think they'll give you a metal when they find out who you are." Tigh proclaimed.

"What about you?" Tory responded.

"He sings you know." Sam Anders said out of nowhere.

"What?" They all said.

"Felix Gaeta. Whenever he thinks he feels his phantom leg. Doc Cottle says it helps him get through the pain. He sings."

. . .

On the baseship; Natalie, Leoben, and one of the Eights were meeting together after Natalie's visit to Galactica.

"The humans are never going to let us have the final five and go our own way. Especially if we decide to go to Earth." Natalie said.

"Are you sure?" The eight asked.

"Not really. I'd rather be wrong but we need insurance."

"I told you this before with Huru, Katara, and Aang. Trust has to begin somewhere." Leoben said.

"That was different. This is still our ship." She said harshly.

"When we jump, we hijack it with the centurions. We carry out the mission as promised, but when we return we take hostages. The humans stationed on this ship stay here until we have the five." Natalie said. Leoben just looked away.

"Listen to me! We've changed and maybe the humans from earth have but the colonials haven't! We've come to far to risk everything on their trust." She said.

Leoben looked up slowly as if thinking to himself. Then he reluctantly nodded his head.

. . .

In the infirmary, Felix Gaeta was recovering from the amputation of his leg by quietly singing to himself.

"Alone she sleeps in the shirt of man

With my three wishes clutched in her hand

The first that she be spared the pain

That comes from a dark and laughing rain

When she finds love may it always stay true

This I beg for the second wish I made too

But wish no more

My life you can take

To have her please just one day wake

To have her please just one day wake."

As he finished singing he grabbed the stump of bandages under his knee in pain. The rest of the leg had been cut off.

On the other side of the infirmary, Laura Roslin was in bed receiving her daily Chamalla drug treatments for her cancer. Her hair wig was gone and her bald head was covered in a rag. She was reading a book when Lee Adama stepped into her ward.

"What a way to discover such a beautiful voice." She said, noticing Geatas singing. "How did you find me?" She asked casually.

"Your chief of staff."

"Needs to be horse wiped. If you came here looking for an apology you can forget it." She said and continued reading.

Lee was silent for a moment before continuing. "The Quorum is considering a vote of no confidence against you." He said grimly.

Laura looked up from her book. "I won't jeopardize the success of this mission or the safety of the fleet to satisfy the neediness of twelve perpetually unhappy representatives."

Lee looked away towards the other side of the room before speaking again.

"I was with them during the emergency FTL jump. But while we were waiting I noticed something in the eyes of the other representative. It wasn't fear or nerviness. I was nervous since it was my first time. It was something else for them. It was emptiness. They had given up hope. And then I released that after going through the same routine for four years, it was the only way to cope with the uncertainty. They had to assume the worst had happened." Lee said.

Laura let his words settle into her head. "You've felt their suffering. Now try to imagine holding their lives in balance every day."

"Please. Just talk to them. You don't have to tell them everything, I know how it works. Just tell them something. Help them put a face to this joint operation. Let them speak with the cylon leader. Let them see the kids from earth if you have to. Anything to ease their worries."

. . .

Aang heard a knock at the cabin door. When he opened it Kara Thrace was standing in the doorway.

"Get your stuff kid. It's time to go." She said.

"Go? Go where?" Aang asked.

"Colonial One. The Quorum of twelve and the president want to see you."

"The what of twelve?" He said.

"The Quorum. It's our government. They want a chance to speak with you."

"What for?"

"The president feels that they need to be introduced to the inhabitants of earth to ease their uncertainty about current events. What with the cylons arrive and all."

"Can Huru come along?" He said pointing to Huru who had just woken up.

"Sure. I suppose." She said.

"Awesome!" Huru said. But then he stopped. "Wait? Where are we going?" Huru asked.

"Come on. I'll tell you on the way." Aang said to his friend as the both walked out of the cabin.

"One more thing. Were you able to find my friend ?" Aang asked

Starbuck nodded "Yes. She's still on the baseship recovering."

"Can we see her?" Aang asked.

"Maybe if you two behave yourselves." She said as they all walked towards the hanger.

. . .

In the control room of the rebel baseship, a Leoben and a Sharon were monitoring the ships systems when the Sharon looked up in surprise.

"We're getting a signal" she said.

"One of the colonial ships?" The Leoben asked.

"No. I think it one of ours. It's a rebel cylon signal!" She said with surprise.

Her companion shook his head. "That's impossible. We're the only surviving rebels."

"Someone else must still be alive then." She said as she tried to concentrate to get more information from the interface.

"According to these reading its a distress call. Which means that whoever is sending it needs our help."

The eight turn to the Leoben. "Get Natalie and the others. Then contact the Galactica."

. . .

In Galacticas CIC, Adama was reading tactical reports when Louis Hoshi, the communication officer, called out.

"Sir, we're receiving a message from the basestar. They want to talk with you."

"Patch them through to the phone." The admiral said. He pick up the large telephone.

"Galactica actual, go ahead." He said.

Natalie's voice came through. _"Admiral. We've just picked a signal from another rebel ship nearby. We request permission to deploy a heavy raider and investigate."_

"How do you know its one of yours?" Adama said with skepticism.

"_Just before the outbreak of the civil war, our faction restricted all ship to ship com traffic to a single frequency unknown to the other cylons to prevent our signals from being intercepted. This ship is using that frequency." She said._

The admiral though carefully for a moment before answering. "Very well. But I want one of our raptors to go along to lead the search. Think of it as our first joined operation."

_"Very well admiral." _ She said and the voice cut out.

"Not good." Colonel Tigh said from across the tactical stand.

"Beg you pardon?"

"Bill it's one thing keeping one baseship under our leash but two!" He said.

"She never said it was a baseship. It could easily be a stranded raider." He said to the colonel. "Besides, why do you think I sent a raptor to keep an eye on them?"

"I don't know sir. It still sounds fishy." Tigh said."

"Sometimes you have to role a hard six." The admiral said. "If we don't let the cylons investigate it could alienate them and put this alliance at risk."

. . .

In deep space, two flashes of light appeared as a cylon heavy raider and colonial raptor emerged from their FTL jumps.

"Isn't it strange how we always get sent on the dangerous missions?" Racetrack asked from the raptor pilot seat.

"Yay. Aren't we just a couple of misfit pilots." Her co-pilot Sculls said with enthusiasm.

"Speak for yourself."

A beeping sound filled the cockpit.

"Dratis contact!" Racetrack called out.

"Is it what we're looking for?"

"How the hell should I know. Ask the heavy raider thats tailgating me!" She said to her partner in annoyance. She hated the idea of working with the cylons but they had their orders.

Suddenly they could see the cylon ship speeding up ahead of them. It kept going for several hundred meters until it stopped near another object floating in space.

"You seeing this?" Skulls asked.

The other object was actually a second cylon heavy raider drifting in space. From the gas and derby floating around it seemed to be damaged. Racetrack activated the raptors search light, illuminating the ghost ship. Then the voice of the cylon pilot from their raider came over the wireless.

_"Raptor 249, red turkey one. Our interface with their computer tells us that this is a rebel ship. Repeat, the raider is one of ours. We are clear to proceed."_

"Affirmative red turkey one." Skulls responded. He turned to racetrack.

"Get your sidearm ready." He said.

Racetrack and Sculls both removed the pistols from their hoist. Sculls maneuvered the ship into a dock stance with the stranded raider while Racetrack walked over to the small hatch on the floor. The ship docked with the raider with a loud 'thud'. When the under belly docking hatch was pressurized, racetrack readied her weapon and opened the hatch. There was a second hatch for the cylon ship with a large handle. She opened the hatch to reveal nothing but darkness. She pointed her weapon into the void and called out.

"Colonial military! Show me your hands!"

There was the sound of movement in the darkness. Suddenly a figure emerged. It was a teenage boy no more than 16 years old with jet black hair that fell over his eyes. He was wearing a strange red robe like shirt lined with the color of gold along the edge. The most distinguishing feature about the boy though was the red burn mark on the left side of his face. He calmly raised his hands at the sight of Racetrack. But she was hesitant. As far as Racetrack knew there were no cylon children in existence. So who was this kid?

"Who are you and what's your name?!" She demanded.

"My name is Fire Lord Zuko. Ruler of the fire nation." The kid said.

"Right and I'm Arachnia, queen of the spider people." Racetrack retorted before raising her weapon again. "Tell whoever else is in there to raise their hands and come out. slowly."

The kid turned and nodded into the darkness. Immediately, four more people emerged from the darkness looking up into the raptor. The first one was a teenage girl in a strange red outfit. (A/N The outfit Suki wore when the gaang was hiding in the fire nation. I just think she looked better in this outfit than her kyoshi warrior outfit.) the next person was a much younger girl, no more than 12 years old, in a green and brown robe like outfit. The third person was another teenage boy wearing some kind of blue outfit with short hair that was tied behind his head. Strangely enough, his eyes were crossed and he was acting almost loopy. This became apparent when he pointed at Racetrack and Skulls.

"Bubble head spirits!" He said.

"What the heck is wrong with him?" Racetrack asked.

"Long story." The first teenage boy named Zuko said.

But they were interrupted by the arrival of the final occupant.

"Skinjob!" Racetrack yelled as she pointed her gun towards the model eight cylon that emerged from the hatch.

"Wait! Don't hurt her! She's on our side!" Zuko said, stepping in front of Racetrack.

"He's right Margaret. It's one of the rebel models." Skulls said.

"We still don't know that those guys are on our side! How do we know we can we trust this one!" Racetrack said, still pointing her gun at Aurora.

"You don't. But if you try to hurt her or my friends..." Zuko said before holding out the palm of his hand. Suddenly a bright burst of fire erupted into a continuous flame from his hand. Racetrack could feel the heat from the flames as she starred in aw.

"Frak me!" She said, and looked back at Sculls before turning to the kids.

"Fine. You win. I didn't sigh up to fight magic or whatever that crap is. But when we get back to the fleet you've all got some explaining to do." She said sternly.

"Same goes for you." Zuko responded as he put out the fire in his hand and took a deep breath.

With their differences on hold, Sculls began to spin up the FTL drive and signaled for the heavy raider accompanying them to do the same. In a few short seconds, both ships disappeared in a flash of light. However, several minutes later, two cylon baseships reappeared from a jump.

"We've detected the heavy raider. There's no one onboard." A model five said from the baseship control room.

"Frak!" Cavil said in anger. All that trouble to hunt down the rebels and nothing to show for it but a dead end.

"Check the raiders flight computer. See if there's anything of use in it."

The five nodded as he put his had in one of the water basins to link with the ship. There was silence for several moments until a model four nearby spoke up.

"I've found something. according to the date banks, another raider momentarily preformed a link with this raiders computer. The link was brief but our raider was able to get an image of the other ships FTL computer."

"Was it able to retrieve any FTL coordinates?" Cavil asked.

"I'm not sure. I need time to sort through the data."

"Make it quick. We have no idea how long the rebels will stay In one place." Cavil ordered before looking down at the data stream and the red lights dancing on the surface of the water.

"I've got you now Natalie."

. . .

Starbuck, Huru, and Aang were walking in the vast hanger deck of the cylon basestar. The entire deck was bustling with activity as Galacticas crew was moving raptors and vipers into parking positions in perpetration for the coming battle. As the three of them made their way to the exit, a pair of figures came out first. One was an older man in a white coat. The other was Katara.

"Aang! Huru!" She said as she ran across the deck towards them.

"Katara! Your ok!" Aang said with excitement as he too ran to her. The two of them met halfway and embraced each other.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Better now. But there's one problem. My bending isn't working."

"Oh no! Do you know if it's permeant?" He said in shock.

"I don't know."

"What if I could heal it using water bending?" Aang asked.

"Aang, I could never heal someone when their chi was blocked. You wouldn't have any chance. All I can do is wait and hope it gets better."

Aang looked down at his feet ashamed. "I'm sorry you lost your bending. And I'm sorry I haven't been around." He said.

"It doesn't matter. I'm just happy to see that you and Huru are ok."

Meanwhile, Huru, Starbuck, and the older man had caught up with them. Starbuck and the older man greeted each other.

"So. How goes the mad doctor?" Starbuck said wittily.

"Not in the mood Starbuck. Now if you excuse me I need to catch a flight back to Galactica before I go insane." And with that the man walked off to a departing raptor.

"What's his issue?" Huru asked.

"Doctor Cottle is always like that. It's best to just leave it like that and not argue." Starbuck said.

Just then, Starbuck turned towards the roaring sound of a raptor flying into the hanger. She walked over to one of the deck hands.

"Hey! What's Racetracks and Skulls raptor doing here? I thought they were still stationed on Galactica."

The random crew member looked up from his work. "They were. But the old man sent them out on a mission with the cylons and they came back with something."

"Define something?" Starbuck asked.

"I don't know. They haven't told anyone as far as I know." He said before returning to work. At the same moment, the raptor landed on deck near the group. After several seconds the door on the side opened up.

First a young woman in one of the strange uniforms steeped out. Then an slightly older man with dark skin came out next. After that, a model eight cylon in plain clothes walked out and walked over to Natalie and a group of cylons on the other side of the hanger. Finally, Aang, Starbuck, Huru and Katara could see the other people inside.

"Zuko?!" Aang said in disbelief.

"Aang!? Katara?!" Zuko said from the back seat of the raptor as Sokka, Toph, and Suki emerged.

"Twinkle toes! It is you!" Toph said as she steeped out of the cabin fallowed by everyone else.

"Suki, Sokka, Zuko, Toph! What are you guys doing here?!" Katara asked with amazement.

"We were about to ask you the same thing, sugerqueen." Toph said. "What is this place?"

"It's a long story." Aang responded.

Suddenly everyone was interrupted by Sokka who the moment he exited the ship, ran towards the back and began climbing into one of the two engine exhaust.

"It's so dark in here." He said.

"Hey kid! Get out of there! You'll be fired to a crisp when I turn the engine back on!" The young woman who exited the ship first said.

Sokka quickly left the large exhaust nozzle and ran over to the group. Stoping to salute.

"General Sokka reporting for duty." He said.

Katara raised an eyebrow at her brothers odd behavior.

"Guys. What's wrong with Sokka?"

"He drank some cactus juice." Zuko said.

"What! Why did you let him do a thing like that?!" She said furiously.

"Trust me Katara, it's a long story. In fact the past week has been a long story."

"Sounds like how are week has been." Aang said.

"Speaking of which. Do you know were we are?" Zuko asked.

"Let's just say that these people are here to help us."

"Even the cylons?" Zuko asked. Noting the hanger full of skinjobs and centurions.

"Yes. These cylons are rebels. The rescued me, Katara, and Huru."

Zuko looked at Aang for a minute as if deciding wether or not to trust him. Finally he nodded his head in approval. "What about her?" He asked, pointing to Starbuck.

"Actually, she's a human. But she isn't a human from earth. None of the humans here are. Their all from a place called the twelve colonies. They were the ones who created the cylons as a work force with their advanced technology. But when they mistreated them, the cylons rose up against them and destroyed their worlds. They've been on the run in a fleet of airships since then." Aang said.

"So it's their fault that the cylons invaded earth." Zuko said accusingly. Starbuck spoke up.

"Hey, kid. It hasn't been a joyride for us ether. Trust me. We learned our lesson with the cylons years ago." She remarked.

"Zuko, the rebel cylons and these humans need to work together. Their the only ones who can help us stop the other cylons from destroying earth."

"Good luck with that." Starbuck said. "From what I heard, if the Quorum of twelve have their way, there won't be an alliance at all."

"What if we could help?" Aang asked. "You said your government wanted to speak with us. What if we gave our support for an alliance?"

"I don't think the Quorum will listen very much to a group of kids." Starbuck said.

"You forget one thing. Were kids from 'Earth'. I'm the avatar and Zuko here just so happens to be the ruler of the Fire nation. One of four nations on earth. That's got to mean something to them right?" Aang asked.

Starbuck was quiet for several seconds, thinking about what he said. "Ok, I'll take you all to see the Quorum. But I can't promise you anything. If the listen to you, great. If not, then there's nothing I can do."

"Sounds like a plan, so is everyone in agreement?" Aang asked his friends. They all accepted.

"I'll support whatever you feel is right." Katara said.

"I'm in." Suki said.

"I'm good." Toph said.

"sure." Huru said.

"Very well." Zuko said.

"Is there any meat nearby?" Sokka asked.

Everyone laughed out loud at Sokka. "Come on guys!" Aang said running to Starbucks raptor. "On the way, you guys can see the fleet they have!"

"There's a whole fleet of these ships?" Suki asked.

. . .

Deep in the bowels of the cylon basestar, Azula was still siting in her cage lost in the depths of her own insanity. Security around the room had intensified since recently. Now more and more metal men were patrolling out side the room. This would complicated any escape attempt on Azulas part. But it was hard for her to think about escape. Especially with the strange song that she was hearing inside her head.

_"There must be some way out of here, said the joker to the thief. There's to much confusion, I can't get no relief."_ Azula grabbed the sides of her head in frustration.

"What is that song?!" She yelled.

"Azula." A soft voice said.

Azula turned around to see the image of her long lost mother in the reflection from the chrome metal walls.

"What do you want?" Azula said sternly.

"Is there something wrong with seeing if my daughter is ok?"

"You don't care about my well being! Your just trying to distract me from becoming ruler of the fire nation!"

"Azula please. The throne is your brother Zuko's destiny, not yours. Your destiny is something far greater."

"LIER! IT IS MY DESTINY TO BE RULER!" Azula screamed. She turned toward the image and shot a blue ball of fire at the wall. When the blast dissipated, all that was left was a burn mark on the wall. Azula began to scream out loud again, falling to her knees, her hands holding the sides of her head, as fire shot from her mouth like a dragon.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" She screeched as the song from before began playing again.

_"There are many here among us, Who feel that life is but a joke. But you and I, we've been through that, And this is not our fate. So let us not talk falsely now, The hour's getting late."_


End file.
